Exercise Lion Star Concludes With Mock Attack

A fortnight of intense training during Exercise Lion Star has concluded with reservists taking part in a mock attack.

Personnel from the Royal Military Police (RMP) and the Military Provost Staff practised their war fighting skills and then how to handle captured prisoners during the finale of Lion Star.

The scenario was made as realistic as possible, with the RMP hunting some mock insurgents and criminals.

After holding off an enemy attack, the unit made their way into a mock village where they searched for information.

Major Dan Staples, Commanding Officer of 253 Provost Company explained what his unit was doing:

"We've assaulted a village, we've detained two high value targets. Along with that we've found a large stash of ammunition, drugs and suspected slaves.

"So we're now investigating the crime scene, processing the detainees and just dealing with the slaves. Trying to identify them."

Reservists from 1 Royal Military Police Brigade were also a part of the search on the mock village. 

Military Provost Staff were helped by an an explosives search dog called Rio, who searched for illegal goods and discovered a weapons cache hidden inside a tent.

The exercise forms training for Rio, forming part of his development as an explosive search dog.

Rio's handler, Lance Corporal Chris Stokes from Cyprus Military Working Dogs, said: "So we'll usually go through about four months of training and then he'll go to a unit and he'll do continuation training with us so we'll do regular work with him, just to keep him on the top of his game.

"He found the weapons so pretty happy with him."

After the initial part of the exercise. the second phase was the handling of a prisoner. 

The detainees, including the injured, were moved from the battlefield to a makeshift jail, allowing the Military Provost Staff to practice the process of booking in and asking the right questions to the prisoners.