Unit at Colorado's Fort Carson locked down after property goes missing

[October 11, 2014]  (Reuters) - A unit at Fort Carson in Colorado entered the third day of a lockdown after a piece of government property was taken without permission, an army representative said on Friday.

The lockdown started on Thursday morning and applies to the 1st Battalion 66th Armor Regiment, a spokesman for the fourth infantry division public affairs office said. The army did not say what type of equipment was taken.

Local television station KKTV reported that between 500 and 750 soldiers are in the affected unit, also known as the "Iron Knights," and that the lockdown requires soldiers to continue working instead of being released home.

The base said in a statement on Thursday morning that it was randomly searching cars leaving the base to prevent the "unauthorized removal of government property."

The base houses roughly 26,000 soldiers, the army said, and sits roughly 75 miles (121 km) south of Denver.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Toby Chopra)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.