Village search DPR/TV/1002

Men of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment, this week cordoned and searched the hamlet of Phu My, 15 miles north west of the Australian Task Force base at Nui Dat. During a screen of the hamlet's 300 inhabitants nine people were detained, including a suspected Viet Cong platoon commnader, a Viet Cong guerilla and two people who pay taxes to the Viet Cong. The others were two draft dodgers, two civilians with falsified identification papers and one deserter from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The battalion, assisted by armoured personnel carriers and Centurion tanks, threw a tight cordon around the village during the night to stop any Viet Cong in the hamlet from fleeing. Elements of the battalion then swept through, ushering all civilians to a screening area where they were all questioned by intelligence officers. They then conducted a house by house search looking for hidden arms and caches of rice, ammunition or other military stores. During this search a dester from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam was found hiding in the thatched roof of a house. He was handed over to the Vietnamese authorities. After they had been screened the people of Phu My were given the opportunity of medical and dental treatment by Australian Army doctors and dentists.