Law and order is recovering slowly

Troops from the 3rd Armoured Cavalry regiment say they searched a vehicle driven by two men and seized around 2,000 bars, weighing some 40lb (18kg) each.

The make-up and origins of the bullion is not known.

The men told the soldiers they had been paid 350,000 dinars ($315) to take the truck from Baghdad and drive it to an unnamed individual in the Iraqi border town of Qaim.

The town has been described as a key staging post for Baath party figures seeking to evade capture by the coalition.

The men said they had been told the bars were bronze.

If they are confirmed to be gold, they could be worth up to $500m, depending on purity and carat value.

Previous hauls

The bars are currently still in the custody of the US regiment that seized them, although some are undergoing metallurgical tests.

American forces last month discovered an estimated $600m in dollars near a Baghdad palace.

And earlier this month, US officials said Saddam's younger son Qusay removed $1bn (�611m) in currency from the capital's central bank just before hostilities started.

But the American authorities insisted that much of the case had been recovered.

In the aftermath of the fall of Saddam, banks became targets for more organised looters seeking bullion, hard currency and even Iraqi dinars.