Analysts from the Joint Theater Forensic Analysis Center use chemicals to retrieve serial numbers removed from equipment in Bizerte, Tunisia, April 28, 2025. The center, located at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, recently helped secure evidence leading to a conviction in an arms smuggling case stemming from the deaths of two Navy SEALs in January 2024 off the coast of Somalia. (Dale Barnes/U.S. Army)
A little-known Army forensics team is taking satisfaction in helping convict a Pakistani man, who recently was sentenced to decades in prison for his role in an arms smuggling operation tied to a deadly Navy SEAL raid off Somalia last year.
The successful prosecution of Muhammad Pahlawan brings fulfillment and validation of the team’s efforts, said Lt. Col. Kyle Thomason, the provost marshal for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa at U.S. Army Garrison Italy in Vicenza.
“It really helps kind of build me up and (lets me) know that what I’m doing is worthwhile,” said Thomason, whose work involves law enforcement, security and policing.
SETAF-AF oversees the U.S. Army Joint Theater Forensic Analysis Center operating at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Somalia’s northern neighbor.
The group of 14 scientists, experts and supervisory personnel in Djibouti is tasked with supporting Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force or special operations personnel as well as other U.S. agencies in Africa.
Samantha Beltran, left, a latent print examiner with the Joint Theater Forensic Analysis Center, demonstrates fingerprint analysis techniques at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, June 12, 2025. The center analyzes field evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, firearms and electronic media in support of U.S. agencies operating in Africa. (Marcus Hardy-Bannerman/U.S. Air Force)
The behind-the-scenes effort is designed to “stay ahead of the enemy and their tactics and techniques that they use to get us,” said Greg Sanson, SETAF forensics tech representative.
The center’s scientists have expertise in DNA, fingerprints, firearms, chemistry and other scientific disciplines used in forensics. They use their knowledge and skills to gather and analyze evidence recovered from interdictions, terrorist activity, attacks on U.S. forces and other situations.
Those resources were brought to bear in the case of Pahlawan, who was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison on various charges related to transportation of Iranian weapons to Houthi militants in Yemen, according to court records.
Pahlawan was the captain of a small unflagged boat, or dhow, boarded by Navy forces in January 2024 that was carrying a warhead as well as parts for ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles.
During the mission, Chief Petty Officer Christopher Chambers lost his grip while trying to board the vessel and fell into the sea. Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Gage Ingram jumped into the water in an attempt to save him. But weighed down by equipment, the two Navy SEALs drowned.
In the aftermath, the forensic analysis center’s team was called in to identify, secure and process evidence on the boat, ultimately confirming the type of weaponry stashed aboard and establishing its ties to Iran and the Houthis, Thomason said.
That work demonstrates their ability to operate in challenging environments, such as at sea. The forensic center’s team includes military and civilian personnel and contractors operating under the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division.
It predominantly is staffed by the Army CID’s Forensic Exploitation Department, which is based in the state of Georgia. It supports annual engagements with partner nations and deploys scientists and experts on six-month rotations, according to the Army.
The internationally accredited lab uses state-of-the-art equipment and forensic science to discover the who, what and where of what is happening on the African continent.
It also works to determine where adversaries are getting their equipment and training, and uses biometrics to determine the names and locations of culprits, Sanson said.
Personnel from U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa do radiological training during an exercise in Bizerte, Tunisia, April 28, 2025. SETAF oversees the Djibouti-based Joint Theater Forensic Analysis Center, which recently provided crucial evidence leading to a conviction in an arms smuggling case over a January 2024 raid off Somalia in which two Navy SEALs drowned. (Dale Barnes/U.S. Army)
For example, fingerprints recovered from an interdiction of a ship can be used to identify people involved in drug or weapons trafficking.
Recovered pieces of an explosive can be used to identify the radio frequencies used by a terrorist group or narrow down the location of a drone operator.
“It’s important for us to know what frequencies (adversaries are) using because then we’re able to jam or to work within those frequencies and make sure that we protect our force in that way,” Sanson said.
Information gleaned from evaluations is then reported to U.S. intelligence for use in supporting commands, he said.
Some service members may not know that data and information is gathered by a “group of civilians that are living in an austere location working day in and day out to make their lives safer and better,” Sanson said.
As of early October, the Djibouti facility had been assigned about 208 cases this year. In 2024 and 2023, it received 323 and 292 cases, respectively, the Army said.
That pace doesn’t include other activities, such as the training of partner nations’ police, military forces or other agencies in forensic sciences and site exploitation for evidence.
For Djibouti lab manager Michelle Boyer, the work to protect U.S. forces has a personal connection stemming from the deadliest terrorist attack on the United States in the country’s history.
Her father, who served in the Navy for nearly 30 years, was in the Pentagon when it was hit by a hijacked passenger airliner on Sept. 11, 2001. He was not injured in the attack.
That pivotal moment was at the forefront of her decision to work in Djibouti and help “prevent something of that magnitude from ever happening again,” Boyer said.
“That is really what gets me motivated,” said Boyer, who is on her sixth rotation.
