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Fame and fortune unlocked for daring Lankan in wartime Iraq
Locksmith Mohamed Zarook, 38, never dreamed that his work overseas would lead to a wild adventure opening treasure-filled safes belonging to a fallen dictator, earning high praise from the US army.
Mr. Zarook, who comes from a family of locksmiths, sought overseas employment in 2003 as a mechanic. He has now returned home and finds his extraordinary achievements have taken him up the ladder of success, including being employed as consultant on locks to a car company.
Zarook’s proud possessions: Certificates given by the US military for the services rendered in war-time Iraq. Pix by Athula Devapriya
“I first travelled to Afghanistan from where I travelled to Iraq via Dubai. My main task was to repair locks and maintain vehicles at a US base.This was during the period when the American forces were gunning for the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain,” Mr. Zarook said.
He said his services were needed at a crucial stage when American troops raided Saddam’s palace and other hideouts.
“The forces retrieved a large number of heavy safes which they believed contained wealth, explosives or chemical weapons. Most of them were brought into the camps but they ran into a problem as they could not open them,” he said.
The Americans had hired experts from Britain, the Philippines and a major US firm in order to safely open the safes.
“They believed there were chemical weapons and explosives and therefore could not use welding machines to open them. They were using maximum precautions,” Mr. Zarook said.
“I volunteered, asking to be given a chance to use my skills to open the safes. They were locked with a combination of settings. I worked for six hours on the first safe and managed to open it,” he said.
“I was treated like a hero when I opened the safe. The soldiers around me carried me and praised me,” he said. He had been paid US$ 2,000 US for that achievement. They had found white gold, gemstones, diamonds and some canisters. He had not learned what the canisters contained.
Mr. Zarook said the senior officers wanted him to open the rest of the safes. “I went on to open the remaining safes. It took a day for me to open 
some of them,” he said.
The skilled Sri Lankan opened 129 of these safes. “Almost all of them had gold, and gems. Some of them had canisters which the forces claimed contained explosives,” he said.
At one point Mr. Zarook had to dive into a lake in which an underwater palace had been built, with bathrooms fitted in gold, to break open safes.
He said that in addition to his salary he had been paid US$ 20,000 for his services.
Mr. Zarook holds certificates awarded to him for his service. One of them was for his support of “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and another was the “Logistics Taskforce 129 Certificate of Achievement”, which praised him for his technical proficiency.
“I was proud that my services were used at a crucial stage. I have been repeatedly getting calls to rejoin the company that employed me but because of family commitments I’ve decided to stay in the country,” he said.