UK spy agency MI5 feared British Muslim cop, others got terrorist training

By Ubaid Mughal May 13th, 2012 ( No Comment )

London: The UK’s internal counter-intelligence and security agency MI5 warned Scotland Yard that its policemen were suspicious of attending terrorist training camps, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

The senior officers revoked security clearance of the policemen and they lost their jobs as a result after checks were carried out as there were fears of ‘sleeper agents’ in police ranks.

The Sunday Telegraph claimed it could disclose today “the identity of one of the policemen suspected of being at a terror camp in 2001”.

MI5 warned that Abdur Rahman, who had been a constable for around three years, might have been to a terrorist training camp when he visited Pakistan.

Mr Rahman, who has become the first ever British cop to have failed counter-terrorism checks, said he was absolutely innocent and had never visited such a camp. “His lawyers say he has never been questioned, arrested or charged under terrorism legislation,” the newspaper said.

A source privy to the case told the paper that there might be one or two other cops who had lost their jobs after MI5 suspected they might have been to terrorist camps.

“There was concern that these people had come into the force under false pretences,” the senior Metropolitan Police source said. “There were two or three cases at the same time that were of a similar nature, where there were concerns about potential terrorist links.”

Despite claiming his innocence, the Bangladeshi-born Muslim Abdur Rahman accepted he had been to Pakistan in 2001.

Mr Rahman claimed that he had become a victim of racial and religious discrimination. He is married with four children.

As reported by the newspaper, his lawyer, Jasmine van Loggerenberg, of Russell Jones and Walker, said: “My client absolutely denies the allegations against him and this forms the basis of his claims against the police.

“It’s important to stress that this is a case being brought by Mr Rahman, not by the Metropolitan Police.

“There are no criminal proceedings against him. Mr Rahman has never been arrested, questioned or charged in a criminal context in relation to these proceedings.”

Mr Rahman’s father, who lives in Poplar, east London, said: “He is a very genuine and very honest man. He has nothing to hide. He is a family man.

“The allegations against him are untrue. He is very pious, he prays five times a day and I think he didn’t fit in in the police because of that.”