British police have a "crystal clear" picture of the man who drove the bomb-rigged silver Mercedes outside a London nightclub, and officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com he bears "a close resemblance" to a man arrested by police in connection with another bomb plot but released for lack of evidence. Officials say the suspect had been taken into custody in connection with the case of al Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot, who was convicted of orchestrating a vehicle bomb plot involving targets in London, New York, Newark, N.J. and Washington, D.C.
Officials say a surveillance camera caught the suspect "staggering from the Mercedes" shortly after parking it outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub. U.S. and British law enforcement officials tell ABC News it is increasingly clear Friday's bomb plot in London involves multliple vehicles, and is described by a senior official as a "terror plot involving lslamic extremists." The silver Mercedes sedan discovered early Friday morning outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Piccadilly Circus appears to have been stolen in early June and was spotted in the last two days, first in Scotland and then in Birmingham, England, according to law enforcement officials.
I've just watched the BBC Ten O'Clock News and didn't hear anything about the crystal clear picture or the 'close resemblance' to another bomb suspect. The BBC News site reports at 10.35pm...
CCTV footage from Haymarket is also being examined and police are believed
to be making some progress towards getting an image of the driver.
The BBC is not reporting the 'crystal clear' picsm because they haven't double-sourced it. I don't blame them for that necessarily, but it does seem odd that if the Police do indeed have crystal clear images they are not putting them on TV. But then again, maybe not!
35 comments:
More complex than that. If they have no idea where he is, then they might have to. But if they think they can catch him quickly, anything which would compromise a fair trial is, in itself, risky.
But in this day and age I'm a little surprised that he doesn't have a 'facebook' which is at this very instant being pored over by all the tabloid journalists...
Good to see that parking attendants do have their uses ! Of course, if there isn't any evidence to convict them of a terrorism related offence, they could always be handed over to Ken Livingstone's 'Congestion Charge' enforcers for extraordinary rendition to a part of City Hall where they seem to be above the law of the land.
Iain
The BBC is probably being repsosnible here. You report web gossip as fact whereas the BBC (whatever you think of it)would have journo's checking facts.
Yo once reported someone elses blog as fact on here and gave me weeks of grief. Blogging is great but it should not replace hard working, fact checking journalism.
Iain did you stop to think of why the police might not want this information broadcast in Britain or do you care about nothing but your hits?
This is a war and careless talk costs lives.
anonymous at 10.59am is right. If the image is that crystal clear and the police can identify her/him (hey, let's be PC about it) then they might be trying to capture them right now, rather than reveal to the suspect that they have him/her in their sights. The police do probably know what they are doing. Let's not have them worrying too much about media experts and give them the space to focus on doing their vitally important work.
If the Police have crystal clear pics and know who the guy is, why tell the world about it? Far better to leave him/them unaware that they are in the frame, and then collar them when you get the chance...
I imagine that we are not told all the details of how these events take place. Which is the best way. Intelligence services should broadcast as much spurious information as they need to to carry out their tasks.
Maybe these guys were prevented by means that have not been reported. It will not be left to the imagination, as the version we are told will be perfectly believable.
Post operation terrorists make phone calls. These can be crucial to finding out more parts of a network. Best not to catch the perpetrators too quickly. They are not likely to have a follow up operation in line.
off topic. The Daily Mail are reporting that Levy and Turner 'WILL be charged'
link
The cops will get them. Automatic number plate recogition, CCTV etc. You can't drive a car in London (or amny other places) without being noticed. Perhaps being traced and arrested for conspiracy is the new martyrdom. We're British in any case, and have seen off worse.
Keep Mum She's not so Dumb
(ABC wouldn't be so pleased if the Beeb put THEIR doughnut eaters and Shrug Police in the line of)
On a different theme why do The Telegraph keep George Gale because he really does seem dumb?
-With his headlines of "Whirlwind Brown" and articles about how spin will no longer be used. In a front page article that is totally spin. Is Brown so dumb or do the Berkley's want something?
Jacqui Smith is in favour of bringing back the "90 days" clause for terrorist suspects. Seems like now would be an advantageous time to run that one through the Commons.
We have to do something to stop this nonsense and it looks as though a further erosion of civil liberties is needed. What else is there to do?
If resources were to be diverted to homeland security, instead of prosecuting illegal wars abroad, we might get the better of the Islamist monsters. Muslims should be afraid, very afraid. We indigenous British do not take kindly to this sort of thing from the offspring of immigrants, and as it is clear that so called "moderate" Muslims are not fighting this from within their so called "communitity" we need to have the resources to do it for them.
And to think that last week they were filled with righteous indignation about Salman Rushdie.
It's not right. Ordinary people will support extraordinary measures to stop the madness.
I don't mean George Gail, I mean George
"I have heard the need for change...now let the work of change begin" Jones.
plitical editor of the once great, Daily Telegraph
I've said it once and I'll say it again: we should up Rushdie's honour to a peerage. How about him being part of the government of "all the talents". Make him Secretary of State for Communities, or whatever it's called. It'd just underline the fact that we believe in freedom of speech. And a couple of incompetent terrorists who cannot even detonate petrol and gas aren't going to change that.
Actually I have more time for making Rushdie a Lord in a po-mo, ironic sort of way than for giving some bad-writing tax exile a knighthood.
If the BNP or muslim people wot done this are reading this blog they'll be dead scared.
Assuming it is nutters known to the security forces - whether BNP or Al-Q - I'd worry about going to get them in case they had a proper bomb there.
These "bombs" were not bombs at all. That one got towed by clampers is fantastically surreally marvellous. Not bombs at all.
Maybe letting stories about "crystal clear images" out is a trick to flush someone out.
Who knows; I really hope they resist arrest.... :)
Why do our police brief the Americans so they can blab to ABC ?
Some of to-days papers(I'm not going to name them for obvious reasons - people can do their own research if they want)are giving a possible hint and if you've read the ABC item you can put 2 and 2 together and get a good idea of whom the police may be after but let's just allow the police to catch them before we start the inquest shall we ? For what it's worth I agree that we shouldn't tell the Americans anything - their media were reporting things that were not helpful within a very few hours of the first incident and whilst the operation was ongoing in London
Did you catch the disgusting spectacle of Ken Livingston trying to make excuses for all this on R4 this morning ?
Iain,
Funny old world isn't? A few weeks ago you did not want to become a "martyr to the laws of libel" by naming the minister whose sexual advances had driven an MP to drink and in the end death. Yet you really dont seem that bothered by national security?
If the police wanted the media to be reporting this, dont you think they would have told them.
One bomb plot was almost throw out of court the last time ABC News reported something from the US authorities.
You are someone who seems to have spent most of their lives in the world of politics and not anti-terrorist investigations. So butt-out.
I do wish that we did not share all detail with our friends in the US. It is right to give some facts - similar to what they would provide us with at this early stage. I understand that New York was put on alert because of events in London as well as other major European cities.
I expect the police do have CCTV of the culprit(s). I just hope they had not booked an early morning flight to remove themselves as it must surely take many hours to find the CCTV coverage and alert airports etc?
I am in favour of any measure to assist the authorities in bringing such people to book. I want ID cards and a change to the law which would enable police to continue to interview suspects after initial charge or else a 90 day detention period. International terrorism requires lengthier investigations as does analysis of technology. I am tired of the human rights of suspects getting greater priority than my rights to be safe. I am very sorry to have to write this - I would never have held such views prior to 9/11 and subsequent events.
Where were these issues of 'national security' and a 'fair trial' when the cctv images of the 21/7 suspects were immediately released and broadcast?
Given that these men had previously been under surveillance and their faces already known this seems an unnecessary action.
(Interesting how all suspects in all these cases of supposed 'terrorism' appear to be already known to the authorities)
Just a coincidence that the 21/7 no-bomb bombers jury retired to consider their verdict the day before these cars were found. Little reported but 'A further charge of conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life, previously faced by each man, has now being left off the indictment" after the chappati flour bombs were proved to not be viable.
By now of course the damage is done, they were the right colour and right religion so we can expect long indeterminate life sentences.
It may well be that the police have asked the BBC not to report this. ABC naturaly would not be limited by the UK poloce advice.
Since central London is awash with video cameras I am sure there will be videos of the parker of both cars. If "crystal clear" involves some hyperbole it will still probably be possible to enhance them.
I'm betting he has a beard.
What a fool, posting things like this. Iain if you are as widely read as you claim, you really should act responsibly at times like this.
Not just the Beeb, Iain. NONE of the British media has this story. There'll probably be a bit leaked out to the Sundays tomorrow.
"Police have a chrystal clear photo of the man responsible"
Not hard to find, he is called Tony Blair and is currently enjoying a weekend at our expense at chequers
The Hitch is right (for once) about Adolf Blair
The Hitch is living in a coward's fantasy world if he believes Britain would be safe had we stayed out of Iraq, Afghanistan etc. Attempts to do things like blow up nightclubs full of 'dancing slags' are inspired by hatred and disgust at the Western way of life. Appeasement doesn't work.
Nevermind that. Did anyone see Gordon's statement tonight on News24. Positively weird. A long walk up a coridor through loads of door frames. Some deeply _unconnecting_ words slurred out with his head wobbling a bit to the side. And then with a last funny/uncomfortable look at the camera he turns around and walks back down the long corridor and the camera follows him. The demeanour, the body language, the words, the staging all sooo wrong. I'd discounted the sedation rumours as troublemaking by Guido-types. But on this performance, who knows?
Where is Blair when he's needed to lead us. Oh. They got rid of him. Ah.
Bobs yer unkle is right.
A robotic performance by GB from an autocue.
I said to Mrs Weasel, not five minutes before Gordo appeared on News 24, that this was to be a truly revelatory moment. A crisis... what does he do, how does he do it? Thatcher would have shot from the hip - heart on sleeve, full of emotion and determination and LEADERSHIP.
His effort was like anal seepage; embarrassing and wet.
God. This man is in charge. Feck.
And Dr Who was overblown and did not conform to its tenuous internal logic. Pity, though. It is still the best thing on TV
I thought the car was green
Was it this chap?
http://coverttactics.iforumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=1264&mforum=coverttactics&xs_preview=db.6#1264
http://coverttactics.iforumer.com/
viewtopic.php?p=1264&mforum=
coverttactics&xs_preview=db.
6#1264
Or maybe the police don't WANT it reporting because it might aid a terrorist suspect on the run, Iain; did that occur to you before you posted?
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