IOR/R/15/2/898

The file comprises correspondence relating to the storage and security arrangements for small arms ammunition (SAA) held by the Government of Bahrain, prompted by the theft of 18,000 rounds of ammunition from a store on Jida [Jiddah] Island, in October 1945. The principal correspondents in the file are the Political Agent at Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Crawshaw Galloway) and the Adviser to the Bahrain Government, Charles Dalrymple-Belgrave.

The correspondence includes:

• A report of the theft from the Acting Adviser to the Government of Bahrain (f 2), and subsequent efforts to identify, apprehend and build a case against those believed to be involved in the theft of the 18,000 rounds, 11,000 rounds of which were believed to have been smuggled to the Iranian coast, and 7,000 taken to Qatar
• Correspondence between the Political Agent at Bahrain and the Adviser to the Government of Bahrain, over the former’s concerns at ‘a number of glaring examples of lack of responsibility’ (f 17) relating to 100,000 rounds of ammunition given to the Bahrain Government by the British Government for the purposes of wartime defence, including discussion of: the amount of ammunition held by the Bahrain Government; how much has been used; security arrangements; and storage facilities
• A request by the Political Agent that the Bahrain Government destroy its pre-1918 ammunition; a request which the Adviser reports has been refused by the Ruler of Bahrain.