British troops in Afghanistan get a lift from Casino Royale special screenings

James Bond has been despatched to give Our Boys in Afghanistan a lift — thanks to The Sun.

With a licence to thrill, we parachuted a copy of the new 007 hit Casino Royale into the war-torn country’s southern badlands.

The forces’ favourite paper stepped in after an SOS from hundreds of Royal Marine Bond fans desperate to watch the hit.

The film will be gone from cinemas when the Navy’s elite troops return home from their six-month tour fighting the Taliban in April.

So film-maker Sony Pictures — remembering that Bond was a Royal Navy commander before joining MI6 — agreed to send the movie out so all 5,800 deployed service personnel can watch it for FREE as a festive treat.

The mission to get the film to them involved almost as much skull-duggery as you might see in a Bond adventure.

To stop it from being pirated along the way, the movie went out in the form of a specially encrypted DVD — with an armed Royal Marine guard with it at all times.

Casino Royale was given its Afghan premiere last night to a packed mess tent at 3 Commando Brigade’s HQ in Helmand province.

Tonight the film, starring Daniel Craig as the super spy, will be shown to hundreds more excited troops in desert base Camp Bastion.

Then, it will be airlifted on to Kandahar to give the RAF Harrier jet and Chinook helicopter detachments there a chance to see it, before going up to the British-run NATO base in Kabul.

Royal Marines spokesman Lt Col Andy Price said: “In minus one degree centigrade, huddled in our fleeces, 150 Royal Marines crammed into our little galley tent to watch the new James Bond film. It was a cracking adventure from start to finish.

“Thank you to The Sun and Sony Pictures for making it happen.”

Thanks to `jet set willy` for the alert.

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