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Weekly Security Brief - June 16th

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Weekly Security Brief - June 16th Empty Weekly Security Brief - June 16th

Post by Sabre 16/6/2014, 15:28

Weekly Security Brief - June 16th Dilita12

Dilitas Weekly Security Brief


This email has been compiled from current, open source data supplied through contacts within Diplomatic Posts, law enforcement agencies and UK intelligence services.
 The information herein is to keep you informed of the current security situations within the UK and the rest of the world.

 If you require more specific information on any other prevailing matters, please contact us at info@dilitas.com detailing what you require and we will respond to you.
Regards,
Christopher Cully
Managing Director


The threat to the UK from International Terrorism is SUBSTANTIAL


The threat to Great Britain from Irish Republican Terrorism is MODERATE


Domestic:
Two teenage Russian students were arrested last week after suspicious items were found at Newcastle University, resulting in an evacuation of the premises and a controlled explosion taking place. The area was again closed the next day after a potentially suspicious substance was recovered from the same location. Reporting of the incident on Russian news website Ekho Moskvy has suggested the students are from the North Caucasus region.

Two men are due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' charged with terrorism offences. 44 year-old Tahir Bhatti from Watford and 26 year-old Imran Khawaja, from Southall in west London, were arrested last week at the port of Dover. It is understood the charges relate to the preparation of acts of terrorism outside the UK. A man has been convicted in relation to a hoax bomb threat phone call and sentenced to six months in a young offenders' institution. Luke Brown, 18, called police in March stating that a bomb would explode in a Norfolk shopping centre, which he hoped would result in the area being evacuated and his brother, who worked in the area, being able to leave work early.

Six men who were jailed for their roles in plotting to bomb an English Defence League rally in Dewsbury in 2012 lost an appeal against their sentences. The men who were sentenced last summer, and received jail terms of between 18 and 20 years, had stated that they were treated more harshly than non-Muslims. Lawyers were expected to argue that when compared to the prison sentences awarded to non-Muslims found guilty of similar offences, they received considerably lower sentences and that the sentences the six received were contrary to Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.

Britain's ability to track terrorists and crime gangs has been severely damaged as a result of the intelligence leaks by ex-US spy Edward Snowden, the Home Secretary has revealed. One year on from the whistle-blower’s actions, police and security services are finding it harder to monitor the electronic communications used by fanatics and master criminals, Theresa May warned. She said the issue must be addressed – raising the prospect of new laws to help GCHQ, police and others to intercept emails and phone calls.
An unprecedented attempt to hold the first ever completely secret criminal trial in the UK has been blocked by the Court of Appeal. Judges said that the "core" of the terrorism trial could be partly heard in secret but parts must be in public. They said media also should be allowed to name the two defendants as Erol Incedal and Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar. Prosecutors said their unique application for a secret trial was in the interests of national security.

Northern Ireland and Eire:
A man was charged last week with directing the activities of the IRA, and of membership of a proscribed organisation. Thomas Ashe Mellon, 38, was arrested in Belfast last week after a witness informed police that a letter, written on cigarette papers by the leadership of an illegal organisation, had been intercepted by staff at Maghaberry prison. Mellon denies the offences and has been remanded in custody until 3 July.
A man from Londonderry has pleaded guilty last week to seven terror-related charges including possession of photos of Merseyside Police headquarters for the purposes of terrorism. Charges against Kevin Concannon included possession of a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook, smoke canisters, blank cartridges, a de-activated
 sub-machine gun and the explosive substance pentaerythritol tetranitrate. Concannon was remanded into custody and is due to be sentenced in September.

Two brothers have admitted to a number of terrorist offences linked to the discovery of a dissident republican training camp. Terrance Coney and Gavin Coney pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm and ammunition, namely a .22 Walther rifle and .22 ammunition in suspicious circumstances in 2012, and attending a place used for terrorist training namely Formil Wood on the Gorticashel Road near Omagh. Charges relating to setting up an improvised firing range and possessing articles for terrorism were also admitted. The pair have been released on bail with sentencing scheduled for 1 July along, with fellow accused Sharon Rafferty and Sean Kelly.

The Government has admitted that royal pardons were given secretly to paramilitaries in Northern Ireland in return for information in cases that date as far back as the 1980s. Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4's ‘File on 4’, the Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers said it would be wrong to name those granted a royal prerogative of mercy in terrorism-related cases, but added that there was an argument for making details public in future cases. Her comments follow revelations that royal prerogatives of mercy were used in 16 terrorism-related cases in the years immediately after the Good Friday Agreement.


International:
US President Barack Obama has said he will take several days to decide what action to take over Iraq, but that no US troops will be deployed there. Any US involvement "has to be joined by a serious and sincere effort by Iraq's leaders to set aside sectarian differences", he said. In recent days Sunni insurgents have seized the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, and are moving closer to Baghdad.
Washington is considering direct talks with Iran on the security situation in Iraq, a US official has told the BBC. The move comes as US President Barack Obama weighs up options on action to take in Iraq. Meanwhile, the US condemned as "horrifying" photos posted online by Sunni militants that appear to show fighters massacring Iraqi soldiers. In the scenes, the soldiers are shown being led away and lying in trenches before and after their "execution". The Iraqi military said the pictures were real, but their authenticity has not been independently confirmed.
The State Department yesterday said the US would remain “fully equipped to carry out its national security mission” in Iraq despite the evacuation of some embassy workers, as Republicans slammed the Obama administration over the growing Middle East crisis. Responding to reports that embassy workers will be evacuated in the face of the continuing Islamic insurgency, the Pentagon confirmed some staff were being relocated. But State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "Overall, a substantial majority of the US embassy presence in Iraq will remain in place and the embassy will be fully equipped to carry out its national security mission.” The Pentagon press secretary, Rear Admiral John Kirby, issued a statement which said: “At the request of the State Department, the US military is providing security assistance for our diplomatic facilities in Baghdad.

The State Department said last Friday that Russia had sent tanks and other heavy weapons to separatists in Ukraine, supporting accusations Thursday by the Ukrainian government. A convoy of three T-64 tanks, several BM-21 multiple rocket launchers and other military vehicles crossed the border near the Ukrainian town of Snizhne, State Department officials said. The Ukrainian Army reported Friday that it had destroyed two of the tanks and several other vehicles in the convoy. “This is unacceptable,” said Marie Harf, the deputy State Department spokeswoman. “A failure by Russia to de-escalate this situation will lead to additional costs.” Overnight Friday, separatists using antiaircraft and heavy machine guns fired on a military transport plane as it was landing in Luhansk, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. It did not give details of casualties, but offered condolences to family members of the victims. News reports said the plane was carrying as many as 49 military personnel.

At least 48 people have died after suspected Islamist militants attacked hotels and a police station in a Kenyan coastal town, officials say. Witnesses in Mpeketoni said gun battles went on for several hours and reported seeing buildings set on fire. The town is close to Lamu island, which is a well-known tourist resort. Kenya has suffered a number of militant attacks since 2011 when its forces entered neighbouring Somalia to combat al-Shabab fighters.

Omar Bakri, a radical Islamic cleric who once praised the London bombers as the ‘fantastic four’, is facing the death sentence after formerly being charged with being the mastermind of a terrorist cell in Tripoli, Lebanon, his adopted home since fleeing the UK in 2005. According to Lebanese reports, Bakri, who was once the subject of terrorist investigations in the UK, was interrogated by a Lebanese military judge this week before being charged with organizing a terrorist cell in Northern Lebanon. Bakri, whose real name is Omar Bakri Fustoq, was previously the London-based spiritual leader of the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun. He lived in London where he was known as the Tottenham Ayatollah
.
Spain Fermin Vila Michalena, who had been seeking to overturn a ruling that he be extradited from Northern Ireland to face charges linked to the Basque separatist group ETA, has abandoned his bid. The charges relate to separate murders of a military general and a police officer in Madrid eleven years ago, and a car bomb attack in 2001. Michalena’s legal team had been seeking to show that statements issued against him by two co-accusers had been obtained through inhumane treatment. No date for his extradition has yet been released.

As the United Nations General Assembly began its review of its overall counter-terrorism strategy, a senior official urged Member States to take advantage of the opportunity “to make the UN more relevant” in the international effort to fight what he called “a destructive and deplorable malady.” Opening the Fourth Review of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, the Acting Assembly President added, “This review...provides an opportunity to take stock of emerging issues and challenges that have grown in relevance over the recent years and to identify the areas where
 we need to do things differently, or adopt different lines of action.”
Saudi Arabia, which is grappling to contain the spread of a frequently deadly respiratory virus, announced last week that a review of the illness led authorities to sharply revise upward the number of confirmed infections and deaths from the disease. The surprise disclosure followed the unexpected firing of the kingdom’s deputy health minister, heightening concerns about the country’s ability to halt the spread of the Middle Eastern respiratory virus. A report by the official Saudi Press Agency said authorities have registered a total of 688 confirmed infections and 282 deaths as a result of MERS since the virus was first identified in 2012. Of those infected, 53 were reported to still be receiving treatment.

Intelligence sources say as many as ten young British jihadists are travelling to Nigeria every month to fight for the extremist organisation - Boko Haram. Many are thought to come from south-east London where there is a large Nigerian community. One intelligence source said, “There is a view that most Islamist terrorists come from the Middle East but that’s just not the case. Nigeria is now emerging as the ‘go-to’ place for young Muslims who want to take part in jihad. The British volunteers are impressionable young men who believe they are doing God’s work. Unfortunately it now looks like al-Qaeda may have infiltrated Britain’s Nigerian community.” The volunteers are taken to terrorist controlled areas to undergo training and indoctrination before being sent to fight against government forces. At least half of them quickly return to the UK after realising they will be expected to commit atrocities.
Britain has pledged a new package of assistance to help the Nigerian army confront extremist group Boko Haram. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said the UK has agreed to provide tactical support along with the US and France. It comes as Boko Haram are still holding more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls hostage. Mr Hague said, "We will increase our work with the Nigerian government to strengthen its capacity, to deal with Boko Haram. This will mean significantly expanding the training and tactical assistance that the UK provides to the Nigerian armed forces. It will include helping to train units employed on counter insurgence operations against Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria."

The US State Department is financing a new 24-hour satellite television channel (called Arewa2) in the turbulent northern region of Nigeria that American officials say is crucial to countering the extremism of radical groups such as Boko Haram. The move signals a ramping up of American counterinsurgency efforts to directly challenge the terrorist group, which abducted nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls in April. State Department officials acknowledged that setting up an American-supported channel could prove challenging in a region where massacres, bombings and shootings by Boko Haram are common, and where the American government and Western educational programs are far from popular. The group has been known to attack media organisations in Nigeria
.
A Florida man was convicted last week of trying to buy weapons for what authorities say was a planned terror attack on a Tampa casino and bar. It took five hours for a federal jury to find Sami Osmakac guilty of possessing an unregistered automatic weapon and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. He faces life in prison at his sentencing on 7 October. The 27-year-old was arrested in 2012 after authorities said he tried to buy weapons, including a car bomb and an AK- 47, from an undercover agent he thought was an arms dealer. During closing arguments, the federal prosecutor said Osmakac wanted to remotely detonate a car bomb near a Tampa Irish pub, then take hostages and start a shootout at the Hard Rock Casino in order to get Muslim prisoners released. She added that he was then going to blow himself up when police closed in on him.

New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton has said that Syria has replaced al-Qaeda as the most significant terrorist threat to the United States. During a briefing with reporters Bratton said, “The issue with Syria is it is a real live war. People are travelling in the thousands from all over the world to fight. We estimate that there are a significant number of Americans [in Syria] and when they come back, they’re going to come back with skills that they did not have when they went over there.”

Hillary Clinton has hit back at Republican criticism of her handling of the deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi by suggesting it has emboldened her to run for president. The former US Secretary of State said she will not make a final decision about whether to stand for the 2016 nomination for at least another seven months, but in an interview to mark the start of a book tour which is being seen as a soft launch of her 2016 campaign, Clinton said the various congressional inquiries instigated by Republicans into the attack in the Libyan city were spurring her to run for the White House.

A day after an unnamed teenage gunman shot dead a 14-year-old at a high school in Oregon, before police suspect he killed himself, a startling map has been published pin-pointing 73 other shootings at US campuses since the Sandy Hook massacre in December 2012. The majority of the 74 shootings following the death of 26 students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, took place at K-12 institutions accommodating children from kindergarten to their last year of high school.

Cyber News:
A new analysis out last week found that the global impact of cybercrime adds up to amounts larger than those of the national income in many countries, coming to an estimated total of more than $400 billion. Compiled by the Centre for Strategic International Studies on behalf of McAfee with the help of a team of economists and intellectual property experts, the report, "Net Losses: Estimating The Global Cost Of Cybercrime," found that the cost of cybercrime to the US economy alone equalled approximately $100.4 billion, or 0.64% of the US gross domestic product. These figures are far larger than other estimates, such as the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Centre report on 2013 incidents, which pegged US losses at $781.8 million.

A Chinese hacker group thought to be based in People’s Liberation Army offices was responsible for attacks on US and European satellite companies, a security company has claimed. The report comes just weeks after the US filed charges against five members of a cyber-division thought to be working out of the same military organisation, known as Unit 61398, for alleged breaches of six US organisations. The attacks, detailed this week, are said to be the work of Unit 61486, and primarily sought to steal trade secrets of private and public bodies operating in the satellite, aerospace and communication industries, according to US firm Crowdstrike.

The hacker collective Anonymous and its factions LulzSec and AntiSec drew widespread attention between 2008 and 2012 as they tore loudly through the internet ruthlessly hacking websites, raiding email spools, exposing corporate secrets and joining the fight of the 99 percent. The groups seemed unstoppable as they hit one target after another, more than 200 in all by the government’s count. It seemed no one was beyond their grasp. But then all went quiet. The group was undone in part by Hector Xavier Monsegur, an Anonymous leader and government informant, who was arrested in 2011 and quickly turned against his cohorts. [...] Since then, aside from a couple of recent actions by Anonymous, the collective has gone silent.
Russian authorities say they have detained two young hackers who are alleged to have hijacked Apple devices and digitally held them ransom. The hackers - aged 17 and 23 - were detained in the course of "operational activities" by the Russian Interior Ministry, Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs said. According to Russian media outlet MKRU, the hackers were caught by CCTV when they withdrew victims' ransom money from an ATM.

And Finally ...
Reported in early June was that a Chinese man was stuck in South Korea after his 4-year-old son doodled all over his passport, leaving him unable to fly home with his family. The budding artist took to his father’s passport with a black felt tip pen, making his dad’s eyes and lips bigger and drawing extra facial hair all over his head. The boy also drew some animals, a few additional people and some flowers. The man reportedly tried to board his flight back to China from South Korea but was stopped by security. His family was said to have flown home but Chen was left stranded in South Korea. (The news report did not provide details as to how long the Chinese man had to wait until the issue was resolved and when he eventually managed to return to China)


Significant Forthcoming Anniversaries:
23 June 1985 Sabotage of Air India flight 185 off the Irish coast. Kills 329 people
 25 June 1996 Bomb at the U.S. military base at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia kills 19 US airmen.
 26 June 1995 Attempted assassination of Egyptian president Mubarak during a visit to Ethiopia.
 27 June 1994 Sarin gas attack in the Japanese city of Matsumoto kills 7 people. Aum Shinrikyo sect responsible.
 28 June 1988 US Defence Attaché William Norden is murdered in Athens by November 17 terrorist group.
 28 June 1914 Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo precipitates the 1914-1918 Great war.
 29 June 2007 Two VBIED’s left in London’s Cockspur Street and Haymarket are made safe by police explosives officer.
 29 June 1999 PKK Leader Abdullah Oçalan is sentenced to death by hanging for treason. Later commuted to life in jail.
 29 June 2014 Ramadan (fasting begins at dawn) - Ends 28 July 2014 (Eid al-Fitr)
 30 June 2007 Two individuals attempt to crash a VBIED into a Glasgow Airport passenger terminal.
1 July 2010 Muhammad Oudeh (aka Abu Daoud), mastermind of the Munich Olympic Games terrorist incident in 1972, dies in Damascus
 4 July 2014 U.S. Independence Day
4 July 1976 Israelis mount a rescue mission on Entebbe to free 246 hijacked hostages; two hostages and one hijacker killed
 7 July 2005 Four Person-Borne IED attacks were mounted on London’s transport infrastructure killing 52 people and injuring 700.
 11 July 2010 Twin blasts kill 74, wound more than 70 in Kampala during telecast of World Cup; al-Shabaab claims responsibility
 11 July 2006 Synchronized bomb attacks on India’s railway system in Mumbai kills 200 people and injures nearly 1000.
 11 July 1988 Palestinian radicals belonging to the Abu Nidal terrorist group attack a Greek tourist ferry killing 11 people
 12 July 1690 Battle of the Boyne: Northern Ireland Loyalists celebrate with parades
 12 July 1994 A massive 2 tonne truck bomb made safe at the Lancashire port of Heysham after vehicle arrived from Northern Ireland. First ever use by the Provisional IRA of a concealed lorry bomb on the mainland.
 12 July 2006 Abduction by Hezbollah of two Israeli soldiers precipitates the non- successful invasion of Lebanon by Israeli military forces.
 13 July 2011 Three blasts in crowded areas kill 18 and wound more than 130 in Mumbai; attack is said to commemorate birthday of sole surviving gunman of November 2008 Mumbai siege
 16 July 2000 Two Aum Shinrikyo members sentenced to death for sarin gas attack in 1995
 17 July 2009 Near-simultaneous bombings of JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta kill nine and wound more than 50
 18 July 1994 Buenos Aires Jewish Community Center bombed, killing 85 and wounding hundreds; Hizballah responsible
 20 July 1997 Provisional IRA’s current ceasefire takes effect and continues to date.
 20 July 1982 Provisional IRA bombs at Hyde Park and at Regents Park kills 12 people.
 20 July 1990 Provisional IRA bomb attack on London Stock Exchange
20 July 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus
20 July 2012 Ramadan (Lasts until 18 August 2012)
21 July 2005 Attempted suicide bomb attacks on London’s transport system, an attack that almost mirrored the attacks two weeks earlier that killed 52 people. The four co-conspirators involved were each jailed in July 2007 to a minimum of 40 years behind bars.
 22 July 2011 Lone attacker, Norwegian national, Anders Brevik, sets of a VBIED at a government building in Oslo, then later, goes on shooting rampage in Utoya; more than 70 killed – mainly young students, and dozens wounded
 22 July 2005 Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes is shot dead by police officers as he is mistaken for a suspected suicide bomber at Stockwell underground station.
 24 July 2001 Tamil Tigers attack Bandaranaike international airport in Sri Lanka killing 18 and injuring 12, and destroying 24 aircraft.
 25 July 1995 Algerian Islamist terrorists blamed for a bomb that functioned at a Paris metro station (Saint-Michel) killing seven people.
 26 July 1996 Car bomb functions at the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, London.
27 July 2012 Start of the 2012 Olympic Games.
28 July 2005 Largest ever mobilization of British police officers since World War Two when the Met Police Service, the British Transport Police and City of London Police deploy officers at rail stations and transport hubs within the capital.
 28 July 2005 Provisional IRA calls on all its ‘units’ to dump their weapons and made a formal announcement of the end of their campaign of violence.
 31 July 2002 Nine students, including five US citizens, killed and 85 wounded by bomb at Hebrew University, Israel. HAMAS responsible, later apologizes for American deaths.
 31 July 1959 Founding day of the Basque terrorist group, ETA.

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