British soldiers sent home from Norway after 'stripping'
Tuesday, 04 Mar 2008 08:06
Eight British soldiers sent home from Norway after reportedly stripping and urinating each other on Arctic exercise.
Eight British soldiers have been sent home from Norway after reportedly stripping and urinating on each other while on an Arctic training exercise.
The soldiers from 59 Commando Royal Regiment were arrested by police in the town of Harstad after allegedly removing their clothing, urinating on each other as part of a drinking game and making abusive comments to women in the town's Sfinx bar on Wednesday February 27th.
The eight troops were part of Exercise Octans, an annual exercise in which thousands of forces personnel from Nato countries perfect their Arctic operational skills.
A spokesman for the ministry of defence (MoD) said the arrests were being taken "extremely seriously".
He continued: "We can confirm that eight soldiers from 59 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers were arrested by the Norwegian police following inappropriate behaviour.
"All eight soldiers have been released, having paid a fine. The soldiers were in Norway on exercises and have now returned to the UK.
"The unit will consider internal disciplinary action against the soldiers regarding this incident."
Harstad police spokesman Gair Pederson was quoted by the Daily Mail newspaper as saying: "They were drunk and there was a problem in the bar, but we are quite used to dealing with British soldiers like this."
Bar manager Peter Holmbakken added: "I can understand the women were offended. It's no fun to be plagued by nasty comments."