Posted on 04/08/2009 7:32:01 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
LONDON (Reuters) - Police arrested 12 men in counter-terrorism raids across northwest England on Wednesday hours after a security blunder by a top police officer.
The afternoon raids involving several hundred officers took place after Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer was photographed openly carrying a secret document detailing plans for the arrests.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...
Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Porter, head of the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit, said the raids were part of a continuing operation and that police had acted on intelligence received.
Officers searched eight addresses in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire and arrested the 12 men at seven different places.
One was held at Liverpool’s John Moores University, two at a home improvements store in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and one on a motorway in Manchester.
Four others were held in Liverpool and four in Manchester.
The arrested men ranged from a teenager to a 41-year-old man, police said.
What’s the big deal that the guy was photographed carrying the document? Could you read the document from the photograph? Did it have a huge 48 pt title “Secret Plans To Bust Terror Ring”?
I read this pretty carefully, and I also don’t really see the problem. Was he holding a manila folder with the name of the operation on the outside of it? So what? Was he holding a typed sheet with the names on it? How likely that you could read that from a photograph?
I’m not sure if this was a real security lapse or not. Although surely it would have made more sense to stick the thing in his locked briefcase.
My, My....
10 of the 11 “suspects” were Pakistan nationals in the U.K. on student visas...
Pakistan - again and again and again....
Pakistan, the cockroach breeding ground of the Muslim world.
Thanks. More details at that link. I suppose it is possible that with a telephoto lens you could get photographs that could actually read the documents. Certainly that photo of his head is pretty detailed, and I imagine much more so with the original file or film.
This is bizarre. The Mirror article suggests that he wasn’t just photographed carrying the documents as one would normally carry them (i.e. at least in a folder, but for something like this one would expect a locked briefcase), but that the documents were photographed when they were completely exposed. Even ordinary people carrying documents of no importance to anyone but themselves, normally carry them in at least a folder, just for convenience and to protect them from damage. It’s really mind-boggling that it seems normal to this guy to just pick up a document and carry it in his hand when he’s taking it outside and to another building.
And who took the photos??? Presumably a journalist, and it would have had to be a deliberate effort to photograph the contents of the document, rather than a typical “Assistant Commissioner Quick is seen here leaving the offices of Prime Minister Gordon Brown” shot. Are journalists accustomed to being able to snag readable photos of juicy documents that this guy is carrying? One can only hope that the bumbling Mr. Quick is relieved of his duties tomorrow. It’s hard to send a message that the nation is serious about cracking down on terrorism with someone like this in charge of the effort.
Reuters would have called and warned them if they had the opportunity.
“pictured yesterday clutching sensitive documents as he arrived in Downing Street”
Could just be they didn’t trust Downing Street with the info, so this “forces” the arrests forward.
Like the US, the current British administration is not what one would consider as patriotic.
“The afternoon raids involving several hundred officers took place after Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer was photographed openly carrying a secret document detailing plans for the arrests.”
~ Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism officer
Code Name: “Inspector Clouseau”
Terror chief Bob Quick quits
Good grief. This guy is definitely not M.
And what’s in the pink folder? Lesbian anti-war terrorists?
Frankly, I don’t think some of these moonbat leftists have the slightest idea what the meaning of security is. And I think Gordon Brown’s appointments have been even worse than Tony Blair’s.
It’s like the people in Obama’s hand-picked administration who think the biggest security concern for our country is Global Warming.
I’ve done a little googling around, and this guy was involved in at least one earlier controversy, when he sent in a squad of gestapo-like police to arrest a Conservative member of Parliament who had complained about Blair’s open house for terrorist immigrants.
See this later story on the false arrest:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5383533.ece
See also this further story about his political activities against the Conservatives and the resulting backlash:
This guy was nothing but a dirty political operative, IMHO. And he was supposed to be in charge of security? What a farce.
That was quick...Pardon the pun...
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