3/11: Finger-pointing inside the Explosives Deactivation Unit Seven Years after the Massacre

Judiciary investigation on 3/11
The EDU team maintains that they picked up hundreds of samples

Today March 11th the judge hears the testimony of 24 Explosive Disposal Unit members that participated in the collection of evidence. They showed their astonishment on certain matters of the investigation.

ANGELA MARTIALAY

Since the 9:30 hours, the holder of the #43 court in Madrid, Coro Cillan, questions the EDU technicians that on March 11th, 2004 and the following days, participated in the collection of rests in the explosion scenes of the Madrid terrorist attack.

The judge has called today Friday –the seventh anniversary of the biggest terrorist attack in Europe- as witnesses 24 TEDAX [EDU technicians] that participated on those tragic hours in the collection of rests from the massacre.

These testimonies take place in the framework of the investigations opened in 2009 by the lawsuit filed by Association for Aiding of the 3/11 Victims against Juan Jesus Sanchez-Manzano and a TEDAX technician, for the offenses of omission of his duty of persecuting crimes, cover-up by concealment of evidence and false testimony regarding the 3/11 attack.

A group of the mentioned agents belonged on March 11th 2004 to the Provincial Brigade of the TEDAX in Madrid, whereas the rest were members of the Central [national] Unit of the bomb disposal technicians, whose director at that moment was Sanchez-Manzano. The agents participated in some way in the inspection, collection and transfer of the rests of devices found on the tracks of Tellez street and in the stations of Santa Eugenia, Pozo del Tío Raimundo and Atocha.

According to what legal sources have informed, the TEDAX of the Madrilenian brigade have maintained this Friday in the courts of Plaza de Castilla (Madrid) the testimony they gave during the trial on the attacks in the National High Court: they gathered all the rests that, later, disappeared. They talk about the kilograms and kilograms of samples such as cotton with ketone [to recover rests of explosives], sand, earth, rest of craters, victims’ clothes, plates, etc, whose whereabouts are not known today.

The agents of the Madrilenian unit have also declared that “it is not normal" that all the collected rests in the days after 3/11 were not either photographed, nor minutes were written up in order to certify their existence. In addition, these witnesses have aimed at that the TEDAX of the Central Unit, who took and moved all the samples that soon disappeared.

On the other hand, the defense of Sanchez-Manzano has indicated that the agents have explained in their testimony that they strictly fulfilled the protocols on the analysis of explosives, although they did not participated in the transfer of the samples collected in the 2004 attacks.

The victims asked more than a year ago to judge Coro Cillán to summon the TEDAX in charge of the transfer of the explosives’ samples. In particular, the order sent on March 9th, 2010 to the Ministry [of Interior] directed by Alfredo Perez-Rubalcaba said that: "To the Ministry of Interior on interest that in a ten-day term from the reception of this order, be sent to this court the relation of the civil servants of the Tedax Group who took part in the transfer of rests of the explosives used in the attacks on 03/11/04 in Madrid, in the commuter trains".

The Executive in his answer alleged that he could not identify those agents and sent the whole listing of the 48 EDU technicians who participated in the recovery of evidence. This one is the main reason why today Friday have been summoned TEDAX who did not have anything to do with the transfer of the samples from the massacre. The data demonstrate that the destruction of these samples prevented the judicial investigation to determine without doubt the trade name of the explosive used by the terrorists on March 11th, that is, the weapon used in the crime. The testimonies will continue this afternoon in the investigative court #43 of Madrid.

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However, the testimonies presented on Monday March 14th were far more fruitful, yielding the name of an interesting character:

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April 14th, 2011

Now an executive in Repsol
The key EDU member in the moving of the evidence of 3/11 declares he wasn’t there.

Despite five police officers told he moved them, he contradicts their testimonies.

LIBERTAD DIGITAL

At least five EDU members identified Rogelio Ramos as the protégé in the Atocha station of Juan Jesus Sanchez-Manzano, former administrative chief of the EDU. But Campos himself, a NBQ [nuclear, biological and chemical warfare] specialist, has denied it, assuring that he wasn’t where the attacks took place, but that he remained in the Central Unit analyzing the information picked by his colleagues. Since he left the EDU, Campos enjoys an executive post in [Spanish oil company] Repsol.

All the agents of the Madrilean Brigade in Madrid who were asked, identified agent Rogelio Campos as the highest rank that went to Atocha [station], just under chief Manzano. In fact, he was the one who advised Manzano –who did not have any training as EDU member-, and was the one who transported in person the rests in a Nissan Terrano van.

The EDU agents [collecting samples] saw him, but he denies it. In his testimony this Monday he argued that “it is not anomalous” and that “it doesn’t go against any protocol” to carry out the rests to the Central Unit [instead of the Provincial Brigade offices], and denies that Manzano had ordered to destroy them. But the most surprising thing is that he has denied he stayed not even a minute in Atocha station taking the samples. His version is that he remained at the Central Unit analyzing the information in order to determine the explosive load that would have been used in the attack, according to the information that the newspaper El Mundo publishes today, quoting legal sources.

He also denied he called an EDU member [who collected samples] in the Tellez street train. As this EDU agent stated, Campos asked him to pass the phone to his superior in those explosion scenes and just after that, the samples began to be transported to the offices of Sanchez-Manzano group [the Central Unit]. Campos first denied he carried out that call, and later declared that maybe, but he could not remember it.

Coro Cillán, the judge that investigates the actions of Sanchez-Manzano on March 11th, 2004, listened this same week the testimonies of his colleagues, who stated that the former chief police officer ordered to move to the Central Unit –directed by him- all the samples collected from the trains. Usually they were sent to the [Provincial] Brigade [offices].

In addition, according to these testimonies, the EDU members warned Manzano that this course of action broke the “chain of custody” since the samples had to be labeled in order to determine who collected them in each explosion scene. Manzano answered “aquí mando yo” [here rule I], according to the testimony of the EDU members.

Our readers comment:

Please somebody explain me how it is possible to switch job from the EDU to REPSOL as an executive and not triggering the darkest suspicions.
nakas

The highly undemocratic and widespread in Spain aquí mando yo. A personal version of the unofficial Spanish motto during the last decades: aquí mandan cuatro (this country is ruled by four persons) also widespreadly repeated by the people to describe our situation. In other places it is the Rule of Law, not of someone.

By the way, this is not the first time that the Spanish oil company REPSOL, a state-owned company which went public under Aznar term and was taken over by Catalonian banks just after 3/11, offers a job to someone who had his role in casting the 3/11 attack’s official version. Jorge Dezcallar, the director of the Spanish intelligence services during 3/11, also became a top executive of REPSOL after the massacre, massacre that he did not prevent.

All that lies in the side of facts. But I cannot help going a bit further and ask myself that, if we scratch just a little bit on Rogelio Campo’s profile, an specialist in NBQ warfare and the alleged advisor of chief Manzano (who, remember, did not have any formation in explosives deactivation), how long it will take to find a link to the Spanish intelligence community.

This is huge. The culpability of the state is laid bare by the simple facts brought forth. Once the dominoes start to fall with Srs. Campos and Manzano, the trail will undoubtedly go to the top.

Kudos to the 11/3 families. After what must have been an interminable ordeal following grievous loss, they must finally have a sense of coming closure. Perhaps the investigations they demanded can finally dispell the ‘state of tension’ that claimed their loved ones.

Luis del Pino says that just having a neutral Justice, the investigations could be successful. I infer that a lot of people saw unusual things those days and they don't mind to give testimony before a judge if they are asked for.

It seems that the cover up consist of imposing an official version and not letting dissenting voices to be heard, rather than blunt concealment of facts.

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