‘Saddam’s’ Mercedes seized from U.S. soldier

Reservist says he paid $5,000 for armored luxury car while serving in Iraq

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updated 4:56 p.m. ET May 19, 2006

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Federal agents seized a Mercedes-Benz from an Army reservist who said the armor-plated, bulletproof luxury car probably belonged to Saddam Hussein.

First Sgt. William von Zehle said he bought the car while serving in Iraq. U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement agents said the car, which was also equipped with loudspeakers and hidden microphones, was being treated as a “possible war trophy.”

“It belonged to the former Iraqi regime,” ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said. He said investigators were unsure whether the former Iraqi dictator actually owned it.

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Von Zehle was quoted in news stories last summer as saying he bought the car for about $5,000 in 2003 while serving in Baghdad with the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion. “I can’t prove it, but yeah, this was Saddam Hussein’s car,” he said.

The car was seized Thursday. A call to von Zehle’s home in Ridgefield on Friday was not immediately returned.

Federal agents are holding the car while investigating possible violations of federal smuggling laws and an executive order barring the importation of property from the former Iraqi regime.

Von Zehle was not charged with a crime.

The white Mercedes was also equipped with a series of pipes that shoot flames out the side of the car, von Zehle has said.