A British soldier has been arrested on suspicion of leaving a film with a photo lab that appeared to show Iraqi prisoners being abused.
Workers in the photo lab reportedly called the police after they developed the snapshots left by a soldier who had returned from Iraq.
The film allegedly contains pictures of an Iraqi prisoner bound, gagged, bundled in a net and hanging from a fork lift, as well as shots that "allegedly depict soldiers committing sex acts near Iraqi prisoners," the Sunnewspaper reported.
A Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed that police in Staffordshire had arrested a soldier, but gave no information about his identity.
If the allegations of mistreatment are proven, they would be a breach of the Geneva Convention which governs the treatment of POWs
There have been other allegations of prisoner abuse since US-led forces toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein last month, but this seems to be the first British inquiry resulting in an arrest.
British authorities are also investigating a lieutenant colonel after an American officer accused him of mistreating prisoners.
