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UK terror files lost in street
26/06/2006 13:15 - (SA)
London - London police said on Monday they had reviewed procedures for handling sensitive intelligence after an officer's bag containing equipment and documents was lost in a London street.
The Guardian newspaper reported that the lost knapsack contained details about alleged bomb plots and suspects identified for surveillance.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said a bag belonging to an officer from specialist operations - the branch responsible for anti-terrorism and diplomatic protection - had been reported missing on June 10. It contained a police radio, handcuffs and chemical spray, as well as documents.
Urgent review
She said the force had conducted "an urgent review of how sensitive information is handled by officers".
"A number of changes have been made to ensure that we minimise the risk of such incidents happening in the future," she said, on the force's customary condition of anonymity.
"Further improvements around the operational security of information have been identified and are being taken forward.
"We take incidents of this nature very seriously," she added.
Previous blunders
It is not the first time British authorities have mislaid sensitive documents. In December 2004, a file detailing police plans to protect visiting Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf was found by a passer-by in a London street.
That July, a dossier detailing anti-terrorism plans for Heathrow airport was found at the side of a road a few hundred metres from the airport.
In 2000, an agent from the MI6 spy agency left a laptop computer in a taxi after a night drinking at a tapas bar.
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