MORE than 200 North West soldiers took part in a huge crackdown on weapons smuggling in southern Iraq today.

In an early-morning swoop, hundreds of troops from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment surged into the rural town of At Tannuma, north of Basra.

Their aim was to crack down on the large-scale weapons smuggling officers suspect goes on in the town and across the border, just 10 miles away, with Iran.

But after three hours of foot patrols, checkpoints and door-to-door inquiries the soldiers said they had made only a handful of arrests, seized a few weapons and gathered little intelligence during the operation.

"Even if we don't get anything from today, it is good to show the people in the town a large number of us are here and taking things seriously," said Captain Alan Sweeney who is based at Catterick camp, North Yorkshire.

The primary aim of the operation, which involved patrols on land and in the air, had been to gather intelligence on possible smugglers, kidnappers and any terrorist activity.

But it was also important to reassure communities throughout Iraq's second city that the British Army was there and dealing with the issue of security, Capt Sweeney added.

When they had first arrived in the city in June, a lot of local people thought the troops were lazy.

"They were used to having 20,000 soldiers here and we had 620. They assumed that we had as many troops and that when they could not see us, they thought we were just lying in our beds in our air conditioned rooms," Capt Sweeney added.

But now, through the use of so-called "quick impact projects" such as renovating schools and sewers, they were beginning to win over the Iraqi people.

"When we arrived in June it was like the Wild West," he said.

"People would quite understandably look to fend for themselves and look after themselves.

"Now we are able to reassure them that we are here and dealing with their problems properly."

In one instance today, a team of eight soldiers spent half an hour investigating claims by a young boy that the body of a looter had been found in reeds.

"It turned out to be nothing but we had to investigate it," Capt Sweeney said. "If nothing else it shows that when they do have something to tell us we will listen to them and take them seriously."