London auction offers WW II spy prunes

LONDON, April 27 (UPI) -- Two dried prunes used to smuggle tiny maps to World War II British prisoners of war were among some odd war memorabilia for auction in London Thursday.

The prunes were part of the work of the late Doreen Mulot, who was a member of Britain's Special Operations Executive. The two she kept as souvenirs now belong to her great-nephew Richard Marshall, who expects as much as $2,000 for the old plums, being auctioned at Spinks in London.

He said Mulot and another woman would cook the prunes, and then do the undercover work in her bathroom.

"As the prunes swelled up they carefully picked out the stones and filled the cavities with carefully rolled up maps of Europe covered in waxed paper," he told the BBC. "These prunes were then dried out and sent out in parcels to prisoners of war in occupied territories."

The maps showed European railway lines prisoners could use in planning an escape, the report said.