DTN News: Al Qaeda May Have Infiltrated British Secret Service ~ Report

DTN News: Al Qaeda May Have Infiltrated British Secret Service ~ Report

*Did MI5 Recruit Six Al Qaeda Infiltrators?....Sky News (Click here for link)

*Source: DTN News / Fox News (Click here for link) (NSI News Source Info) LONDON, U.K. - August 2, 2009: MI5 is facing allegations that it mistakenly recruited Al Qaeda sympathizers who were trying to infiltrate the British secret service. Protester holding up a poster of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Conservative MP Patrick Mercer is demanding a probe into claims six Muslims were thrown out of MI5 because of concerns about their past. Two of the six allegedly attended al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan while the others had unexplained gaps of up to three months in their CVs. Patrick Mercer, a Conservative member of Parliament, is demanding a probe into claims six Muslims were thrown out of MI5 because of concerns about their past. Two of the six allegedly attended Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan while the others had unexplained gaps of up to three months in their resumes. Mercer, counter-terrorism sub-committee chairman, told Sky News that MI5 is believed to have detected two sympathizers at a "fairly early stage" of their secret service training. The others allegedly did not make it through vetting procedures. However, Mercer wants clarification on how successful the security services have been at detecting enemy infiltrators. "This is exactly the sort of work that MI5, MI6 and the other security services should be up to," he said. "Of course, they should be attracting recruits from all sorts of different backgrounds, diverse backgrounds. The fact remains, it is not without risks... a subversive organization that is worth its salt will, of course, try to infiltrate." A government spokesperson said the service "takes vetting very seriously." "All candidates are required to undergo the most comprehensive process of security vetting in the UK."

Pakistani 'Terror Plot Suspects' To Be Deported Rather Than Charged

Pakistani 'Terror Plot Suspects' To Be Deported Rather Than Charged

*By Sean O’Neill, Zahid Hussain and Michael Evans From The Times April 13, 2009

(NSI News Source Info) April 13, 2009: Most of the Pakistani men arrested last week in an anti-terrorist operation will be deported rather than charged, senior counter-terrorism sources told The Times last night. (Photo: Haji Hazrat Ali with a portrait of his son Mohammad Ramzan) Officials in London and Islamabad said that Britain had begun seeking assurances about how the men would be treated if they were returned to Pakistan. “The British wanted to be reassured that if some of these men were deported they would not face torture,” an informed source in Pakistan said. One of the 12 men detained, an 18-year-old, has been freed from anti-terrorist detention and is in the custody of immigration officials. Investigators are concerned that they have not found any firm evidence linking the men to terrorist attack plans. A source close to the inquiry said: “There is already talk of coming up empty-handed and there is terrible infighting between the different forces involved.” Operation Pathway, the codename for the inquiry, has already led to the resignation of Britain’s most senior anti-terrorist officer, Bob Quick, after he accidentally revealed details of the arrest plans to photographers in Downing Street. If it results in deportations rather than charges, it will also embarrass the Prime Minister, who said that the police were dealing with “a very big terrorist plot” and had criticised Pakistan for not doing more to tackle Islamist terrorism. The latest discussions between London and Islamabad were disclosed as news emerged from Pakistan that its anti-terrorist agencies had been holding a British convert to Islam for two weeks. James McLintock, 44, was detained in Peshawar, from where many of the men arrested in Britain come, and is being questioned about helping British Muslim militants to make contacts in Pakistan. Pakistani and British officials said that the arrest of Mr McLintock, from Dundee, was not linked to the continuing terrorism investigation in Britain. The last time he came to the attention of the British authorities, however, was in late 2003 when he was questioned by anti-terrorist police in Manchester, the city at the heart of the plot allegations. The family of a man studying at Liverpool John Moores University said they believed that their son had been arrested and appealed for his release. Relatives of Mohammad Ramzan, from Dera in Pakistan, said that they had been unable to contact him since last week. Haji Hazrat Ali, his father, told Associated Press that Mr Ramzan, 25, travelled to Britain in 2006 and was studying for an MBA. Mr Ali said: “He is a very humble, gentle boy and always concentrates on his studies. I firmly believe he simply cannot be involved in any negative activity.” The operation in Britain has been running covertly for several weeks and went public last Wednesday, within hours of Mr Quick’s blunder, with dramatic daylight raids in Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe, Lancashire. The remaining 11 detainees, 10 of whom are believed to be Pakistani nationals visiting Britain on student visas, are being questioned at police stations across the North of England. Detectives have been granted a further seven days to detain the suspects, who range in age from 22 to 41. They can be questioned for a maximum of 28 days before they have to be charged or released. The investigation is a joint operation between the North-West Counter-terrorism Unit, Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command and MI5, and involved Merseyside and Lancashire constabularies. The involvement of so many forces is said to have led to infighting and confusion over the command and direction of the inquiry.

UK Under Attack From Global Spy Agencies: Report

UK Under Attack From Global Spy Agencies: Report

(NSI News Source Info) London - February 9, 2009: Britain has become a top target of global spy agencies, particularly those from China and Russia, seeking to steal its most sensitive secrets and cutting edge technologies, a government document has revealed.

The report, which was drawn up by an Army intelligence cell inside Whitehall, warns that foreign spies are trying to steal secrets related to the military, optics, communications, genetics and aviation industries.

Russia and China have been identified as having the most active spy networks from 20 foreign intelligence agencies, who are targeting Britain for cutting edge technologies and other most sensitive secrets, The Sunday Telegraph reported on Sunday.

"Whilst our primary threat would seem to come from international terrorism, it is important that we do not lose sight of another omnipresent threat. Espionage against UK interests continues to come from many quarters," warned the security document obtained by British daily.

"In the past, espionage activity was typically directed towards obtaining political and military intelligence. In today's high-tech world, the intelligence requirements of a number of countries now include new communications technologies, IT, genetics, aviation, lasers, optics, electronics and many other fields. Intelligence services, therefore, are targeting commercial enterprises far more than in the past," said the report.

In a speech in November 2007, Jonathan Evans, the director general of MI5, said that foreign intelligence services were active in the UK, with the Russians at the forefront of covert operations, the British report said.

Laskhar As Big A Threat As Al Qaeda: Former CIA official

Laskhar As Big A Threat As Al Qaeda: Former CIA official

By Dipankar De Sarkar

(NSI News Source Info) London, England - February 9, 2009: The Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT), the Pakistan-based terrorist network blamed for the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, now constitutes as big a threat to the US and Britain as Al Qaeda, a former CIA official who has advised President Barack Obama was quoted as saying Sunday. The comment, made to the Sunday Telegraph, comes after Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told his British counterpart Sir Philip Rickett in London talks Friday that Pakistan must take immediate steps to 'wind up' the terrorist infrastructure that continues to operate from its soil. Informed sources told IANS that India told Britain squarely that Pakistan had to take immediate steps to do two things: First, punish those responsible for the Nov 26-29 Mumbai outrage, and second, dismantle the entire infrastructure that arms, finances and abets terrorism from Pakistani soil. Meanwhile, Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official who has advised Obama, told the Sunday Telegraph that the attacks in Mumbai made the LeT as big a threat as Al Qaeda. 'In the aftermath of the Mumbai attack, the US and the UK intelligence services now have to regard Lashkar-e-Taiba as just as serious a threat to both of our countries as al-Qaeda,' he said. 'They have a much more extensive base among Pakistani diaspora communities in the UK than al-Qaeda.' Riedel has told Obama that British-born Pakistanis, among whom the LeT and Al Qaeda have made extensive inroads, are today the biggest security threat to the US. 'The British Pakistani community is recognised as probably al-Qaeda's best mechanism for launching an attack against North America,' Riedel said. 'The American security establishment believes that danger continues and there's very intimate cooperation between our security services to monitor that.' 'President Obama's national security team are well aware that this is a serious threat,' Riedel told the paper. Riedel's warning comes after the head of Britain's spy agency said in January that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai had 'indirect connections' with individuals in Britain and that Mumbai could become an 'iconic' model for future terror attacks around the world. MI5 Director General Jonathan Evans said that billing records have been uncovered revealing telephone calls between the LeT members and other countries, including Britain. British government ministers say more than 70 percent of terrorist cases investigated in Britain have their roots in Pakistan, including the 7/7 terrorist attacks which killed 52 civilians and wounded 700 in London in 2005. Riedel's comments come amid a reported surge in American intelligence operations in Britain, home to the largest Pakistani population settled outside the home country after Saudi Arabia. The Sunday Telegraph said intelligence briefings for Obama have detailed a dramatic escalation in American espionage in Britain, where the CIA has recruited record numbers of informants in the Pakistani community to monitor the 2,000 terrorist suspects identified by MI5. A British intelligence source told the paper a staggering four out of 10 CIA operations designed to thwart direct attacks on the US are now conducted against targets in Britain.