Forest Gate Raid
This article is part of the Counter-Terrorism Portal project of Spinwatch. |
The Forest Gate Raid was a counter-terrorism operation that was conducted at a house in Forest Gate at 4am on 2 June 2006 on suspicion that a “chemical weapon” was being produced by two brothers – Abdul Kahar Kalam, who was shot by police during the raid, and his brother, Abdul Koyair. Security Sources stated that the operation was based on intelligence that indicated a “viable” chemical device was present at the house that had the potential of producing casualties “in double or even triple figures”. This was the official reason for the operation.[1]
No chemical weapon was ever found and both men were released without any charges being brought against them.
The Raid
The raid was carried out by approximately 250-300 police officers, including armed police officers. They were backed up by fire-fighters, health officials and biochemical experts from the MoD biological warfare research centre at Porton Down.[2] Porton Down Members swept the house and ensured it was safe from any chemical or biological dangers.[3]
Whilst the raid and investigation was ongoing, an air exclusion zone was imposed around the scene, which banned aircraft flying below 2,500 feet above the site of the site - the house of the two brothers.[1] However, local residents were not evacuated form their homes becuase, as the BBC reported, "the threat of explosions was not deemed serious enough or [the] police did not want to alert the suspects".[1]
Intelligence
Deputy Assisstant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service and commander of SO15, Peter Clarke, stated that the operation was based on “specific intelligence”.[1]
Initial media reports suggested that the intelligence regarding the operation had emerged from “foreign sources” and had been received by the intelligence services (MI6). [4]
The press then reported that the information was in fact supplied by a friend of the two brothers - Abu Bakr Mansha, an MI5 informant who was reported to have an IQ of just 69, who’s handler “checked out his story as ‘plausible’”.[4] The Daily Mail claimed that the informant had "claimed to have seen the device"
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Raid police hunt chemical device, BBC News, 3 June 2006, accessed 03.09.10
- ↑ Ben Taylor, ‘Police won’t find a thing; wounded terror suspect hits out as poison bomb officers scour his home; backlash over ‘cyanide’ swoop’, The Daily Mail, 5 June 2006, accessed via LexisNexis on 01.09.10
- ↑ Justin Penrose, ‘Diagram of poison bomb sparked raid; experts warned of deadly threat’, Sunday Mirror, 4 June 2006, accessed via LexisNexis on 01.09.10
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sophie Goodchild and Francis Elliot, Tip-off by local informant led to Forest Gate raid; Muslims fear lasting damage to relation with police as ‘series of…(title incomplete), Independent on Sunday, 11 June 2006, accessed via LexisNexis on 01.09.10
