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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060417...n_060417182847;_ylt=AiJIJYQBVZgD8s_DKIHJKb2gOrgF
Feared warriors enforcing the rules in shopping centers.
LONDON (AFP) - A team of former Gurkhas has been deployed on peacekeeping duties in Britain but the front line involves crime prevention measures in the car park of a popular Swedish furniture store.
Bosses at the branch of IKEA in Nottingham, east central England, drafted in five ex-members of the feared Nepalese fighting force three weeks ago after a spate of thefts and high rates of car crime.
Since then, not a single crime has been reported.
"It's true that there has been no crime in the car park at all since the Gurkhas came in," David Attle, the store's risk controller, told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency amid the busy bank holiday rush.
"Prior to their appointment we had quite a high incident rate and it's a pleasure to say that since we have had the Gurkhas doing the patrols we haven't had a single incident so far."
The team of Nepalese security officers employed at the store previously trained and served with the British Army, taking up jobs with a local security firm after their retirement.
The firm, Octavian Security Limited, has about 40 ex-Gurkhas on its books, according to company director Jot Engelbrecht.
Security officer Lal Bahadur Gurung, 44, a former soldier with the 10th Ghurka Rifles, based at Aldershot, southeast England, said his experience and training comes in handy.
"My experience of peace-keeping duties certainly helps," said Gurung, who joined the British Army in 1982 and was stationed in Hong Kong, Britain and Brunei.
Gurkhas from Nepal have served in the British Army since 1815, when they impressed officers with a valiant defence of their home nation against British invasion.
They have fought with distinction in virtually every war involving British troops since then and are renowned for the kukri, a curved, razor-sharp fighting knife.
About 3,600 Gurkhas currently serve with British forces.
Bosses at the branch of IKEA in Nottingham, east central England, drafted in five ex-members of the feared Nepalese fighting force three weeks ago after a spate of thefts and high rates of car crime.
Since then, not a single crime has been reported.
"It's true that there has been no crime in the car park at all since the Gurkhas came in," David Attle, the store's risk controller, told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency amid the busy bank holiday rush.
"Prior to their appointment we had quite a high incident rate and it's a pleasure to say that since we have had the Gurkhas doing the patrols we haven't had a single incident so far."
The team of Nepalese security officers employed at the store previously trained and served with the British Army, taking up jobs with a local security firm after their retirement.
The firm, Octavian Security Limited, has about 40 ex-Gurkhas on its books, according to company director Jot Engelbrecht.
Security officer Lal Bahadur Gurung, 44, a former soldier with the 10th Ghurka Rifles, based at Aldershot, southeast England, said his experience and training comes in handy.
"My experience of peace-keeping duties certainly helps," said Gurung, who joined the British Army in 1982 and was stationed in Hong Kong, Britain and Brunei.
Gurkhas from Nepal have served in the British Army since 1815, when they impressed officers with a valiant defence of their home nation against British invasion.
They have fought with distinction in virtually every war involving British troops since then and are renowned for the kukri, a curved, razor-sharp fighting knife.
About 3,600 Gurkhas currently serve with British forces.
Feared warriors enforcing the rules in shopping centers.
But once he explained to them that they would be given parachutes to jump with, the whole company volunteered. 
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