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  Monday 10th October 2005  World News   Powered by Yeast Logic
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FBI, CIA, FEMA, DHS to probe Big Easy cops scandal

Post-Katrina orgy of illicit shopping
by Regina Marracco

New Orleans, Louisiana — The New Orleans Police Department, the FBI, the CIA, FEMA, and the Department of Homeland Security announced Friday a government probe into reports of police looting in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The Acting Police Chief of New Orleans, Bubba O'Hara, admitted that "at least 12 and maybe as many as 4678 police officers may have gone on a looting spree in the days immediately following the devastating storm".

O'Hara added: "Preliminary reports do show police officers with some items," but hastened to explain that food, clothing and Rolex watches were necessities which they needed to carry out their jobs. He also confirmed that former Police Chief, Billy Jack Daniels, had resigned on Wednesday, and returned the Porsche 932 that had apparently floated into his driveway.

Meanwhile, the Louisiana Attorney General, who declined to be interviewed for this article, confirmed that law enforcement agencies received 962 video tapes from news crews covering the hurricane capturing New Orleans' finest in a do-or-die struggle with flood victims to get the top-of-the-line merchandise first.

The District Attorney also called reports that some 250 police officers abandoned their duties "bullshit", saying: "We had a lot of officers stranded on the rooftops of retail stores for four or five days. The storm caught a lot of us by surprise."

The "smoking gun"of the probe is said to be video shot at a sleazy hotel near Bourbon Street, which 70 police officers took over. The night manager, Osman Khan Qattar, told CNN that the officers launched a four-day drinking and looting binge. "They'd leave at 10 at night, and come back at four or five in the morning carrying everything from Adidas to Sony Plasma TVs," said Mr. Qattar. One time they came back with a truck full of Kalashnikov assault rifles and Geoffrey Beane tuxedos." The video shows an officer pulling a gun on the reporter as his crew attempted to enter a guest room filled with cases of vodka. Officials say that the officers' explanation of "keeping dangerous items out of the hands of criminals" is plausible.

Local residents continue to complain that police are looting unoccupied homes, even weeks after the initial chaos is over. An eyewitness claims to have witnessed a police van pulling up to a brothel on Canal Street and the officers filling the van with racks of Frederick's of Hollywood clothing and sex toys and movies from the brothel's retail outlet. Claims by the Police Department that the merchandise was being delivered to the homeless still housed in the Super Dome could not be verified.

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