EN48

This article is part of the Undercover Research Portal at Powerbase - investigating corporate and police spying on activists

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Part of a series on National Public Order Intelligence Unit
'EN48'
Alias:	unknown
Deployment:	unknown
Role:	undercover

EN48 is the cipher given to a former undercover officer of the National Public Order Intelligence Unit who was deployed in the 2000s against unknown targets. Sir John Mitting, chair of the Undercover Policing Inquiry, has ruled that the Inquiry will restrict the officers real and cover name in the Inquiry.

• For the EN cipher system see EN officers page.

As a police officer

Before and after their secondment as an NPOIU undercover work, EN48 had done undercover work in the serious and organised crime area, including drugs gangs, firearms distribution and extortion including some deployments which put the officer and colleagues at 'substantial and immediate risks'.

It was also noted that:

EN48 was appointed as a Level 1 source handling officer for higher level sources. High profile informants who provided intelligence on drugs offences, terrorism, firearms and kidnapping were handled by EN48. If EN48 was seen with any of those informants there is a risk to them if his/her identity is revealed.

In the Undercover Policing Inquiry

• 18 July 2017: application to restrict real and cover names made.

• 2 May 2018: Mitting minded to restrict real and cover names, writing:

EN48 was deployed by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit in the 2000s. Members and associates of the target groups posed and pose a real risk to the safety of EN48. Article 3 of the European Convention is not engaged, because the risk is contingent not immediate, but the right to respect for the private and family life of EN48 under Article 8 would be infringed in that and other respects. Although publication of the cover name might prompt evidence from others who encountered EN48, it would amount to a disproportionate interference with that right and would not be justified under Article 8(2).

• 9 July 2018: Inquiry releases gisted versions of the restriction order application, risk assessment and witness statement for the officer and Mitting directed that any submissions in response to these applications were to be made by 20 July 2018.

• 30 October 2018: Mitting rules to restrict both real and cover names, writing:

I am satisfied that the risk assessor's assessment of the risks posed to EN48 as a result of the [NPOIU] deployment is balanced and fair. He and I took into account the varying opinions expressed by other officers about similar risks. The difference between EN48's evaluation of the risks posed by the post [NPOIU] deployments and that of the risk assessor is primarily due to the absence of accessible internal records about the deployments. Hence, at least in part, his somewhat more cautious view. Notwithstanding that, he still assesses the threat and risk that it may materialise as medium and the degree of harm which might be inflicted, if it does materialise, as high. As the open 'Minded to' note states, the risk which I had primarily in mind was that created by the [NPOIU] deployment.