Intelligence behind raid was wrong, officials say
"Senior counter-terrorism officials now believe that the intelligence that led to the raid on a family house last Friday in a search for a chemical device about to be used to attack Britain was wrong, the Guardian has learned.
"Counter-terrorism officials were under pressure last night after days of meticulous search of the house in east London failed to produce anything to link the two men they arrested to a chemical plot. But a senior police officer said they had been left with 'no choice' but to force entry into the house because there was specific intelligence of a threat to public safety.
"One official, with knowledge why police acted and what had been found from days of searching, said the intelligence had been acted on correctly, but added last night: 'There is no viable device at that house. There is no device being constructed, or chemicals. There does not appear to be anything there or anywhere else.'
"As lawyers for the two arrested men continued to protest their innocence, it emerged that the man who had passed the specific information that led to the raid in which a man was shot last Friday was a police informant who had been providing intelligence about the activities of alleged Islamist militants for several weeks.
"This was despite previous reports quoting police sources that suggested the informant was being handled by the security service, MI5. It was the police who passed the information from the informant to MI5 officers to assess it, the Guardian understands. MI5 and police then agreed the information was specific and credible and made a joint decision it had to be acted upon immediately."
Guardian Unlimited
Related: Ministers' 7/7 errors
Tagged: uk, war+on+terror, terrorism
"Counter-terrorism officials were under pressure last night after days of meticulous search of the house in east London failed to produce anything to link the two men they arrested to a chemical plot. But a senior police officer said they had been left with 'no choice' but to force entry into the house because there was specific intelligence of a threat to public safety.
"One official, with knowledge why police acted and what had been found from days of searching, said the intelligence had been acted on correctly, but added last night: 'There is no viable device at that house. There is no device being constructed, or chemicals. There does not appear to be anything there or anywhere else.'
"As lawyers for the two arrested men continued to protest their innocence, it emerged that the man who had passed the specific information that led to the raid in which a man was shot last Friday was a police informant who had been providing intelligence about the activities of alleged Islamist militants for several weeks.
"This was despite previous reports quoting police sources that suggested the informant was being handled by the security service, MI5. It was the police who passed the information from the informant to MI5 officers to assess it, the Guardian understands. MI5 and police then agreed the information was specific and credible and made a joint decision it had to be acted upon immediately."
Guardian Unlimited
Related: Ministers' 7/7 errors
Tagged: uk, war+on+terror, terrorism
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