Weekly Security Brief - June 9th

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:
A nineteen year old from London, who had been detained at Heathrow airport a week ago on suspicion of ‘preparing acts of terrorism’, has been released on bail. It is understood the arrest was made in connection to potential links with Syria but was not in response to any immediate risk or threat. A second man was also detained on suspicion of sending money overseas for the purposes of assisting terrorism in Syria. The twenty year old had been arrested as he entered the UK. The arrests are understood to be unrelated.
Two men aged 26 and 44 were arrested in Dover last Tuesday as they arrived on a ferry from Calais. The pair were arrested on suspicion of the commission,
 preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism and are believed to be British nationals. Addresses in west London and Hertfordshire were subsequently searched, while the men were taken to a London police station for questioning. It has not been confirmed whether the pair had travelled to or had links with terrorist activity in Syria.

Two men, including a friend of one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, have been jailed for encouraging terrorism and disseminating terrorist material. Ibrahim Hassan, 28, also known as Abu Nusaybah, and Shah Jalal Hussain, 31, were both jailed for three years. Hassan, of Walthamstow, and Hussain, of Whitechapel, had pleaded guilty to the charges at the Old Bailey in March. Hassan, a father of two, was arrested after he gave an interview to the BBC's Newsnight in May last year. During the programme, he claimed Michael Adebolajo, who killed Lee Rigby in Woolwich, was tortured in Kenya and had been offered a job by MI5.
Britons fighting in Syria face being charged with terrorist offences when they return home, under new laws to limit the threat of attack in the UK. The new laws would allow people suspected of committing terror offences overseas to be prosecuted in the UK as if the offences occurred on British soil. Experts, the intelligence community, and ministers have previously warned that the number of UK fighters returning from Syria is of serious concern. In the Queen's Speech, the Prime Minister unveiled a raft of new laws which also target criminal gangs, people traffickers and child abusers.

Fundamentally different approaches to the Prevent strategy, the government's shadowy programme for tackling extremism, lie at the heart of the open Cabinet clash between Michael Gove and Theresa May. The argument, according to both sides, is about whether it is better to "beat back the crocodiles that come close to the boat rather than draining the swamp." Gove's supporters claim that the Home Office in general, and Charles Farr, the head of the office of counter-terrorism and security in particular, is in some way to blame for the alleged problems in some Birmingham schools because of a reluctance to "drain the swamp" - to confront extremism unless it looks like developing into terrorism.

A terrorism trial that may be heard in secret risks "undermining the public's confidence in justice being done", the shadow justice secretary has warned. The Crown Prosecution Service wants it to be heard behind closed doors on the grounds of national security. It would be the first such trial in England. The court case involves two defendants named AB and CD who had been arrested "in high-profile circumstances" and faced allegations of the preparation of terrorist acts and possessing bomb-making instructions.

Home Secretary Theresa May has called for tougher rules to prevent Islamic extremism in schools and appeared to question Michael Gove's efforts to address the issue. In a letter to the Education Secretary, Mrs May said there had been concerns raised about the "inability" of local and central government to tackle the problem following the allegations of extremism in Birmingham schools. She also questioned whether Mr Gove's department had been warned about the allegations in 2010 and asked, "If so, why did nobody act?"
Britain's most senior civil servant will investigate the high-profile row between two senior cabinet ministers over tackling extremism in schools this following the clash between Michael Gove and Theresa May over the alleged Islamist plot to take over some schools in Birmingham.

Police arrested 222 people for terrorism-related offences in Britain in 2013 - down from 258 in 2012, the Home Office has revealed. Of those, 22 were convicted while one was found not guilty. A further 30 are still awaiting trial. The Home Office said that 37 of 44 defendants brought to court in 2013 were found guilty. Since the 9/11 bomb attacks on New York, 391 people had been convicted of a terrorism-related offence, it added. The figures for Britain, published last week, revealed there were 147 prisoners, either convicted or on remand, who were "classified as terrorists or extremists" on 31 December 2013. About a third were classified as "domestic extremists". There were 122 terrorist/extremists a year earlier.
Since 11 September 2001, when the current data collection was set up [...], there have been 2,586 terrorism arrests in total. Of the 222 persons arrested for terrorism-related offences in the year ending 31 December 2013, 114 (51%) were charged, 68 (31%) were released without charge and 40 (18%) had alternative action taken against them (mainly bailed to return pending further investigation). This compares to 38% charged, 52% released without charge and 9% with alternative action taken since 11 September 2001

Relatives of the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing are to launch a fresh bid to clear his name more than two years after his death. Six immediate members of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's family have joined forces with a number of British relatives of those who died in the atrocity to seek a third appeal against his conviction in the Scottish courts, a press conference in Glasgow heard.
Just over five years after quitting her cabinet post when her past as a member of the IRA was revealed, Councilor Maria Gatland has returned to the council’s Conservative front bench the Croydon Advertiser reported. She was this week named the new shadow cabinet member for children, families and learning. Ms Gatland resigned from her post as cabinet member for education the day after her membership of the IRA in her youth was revealed during public question time at a meeting of the council in December 2008.


Northern Ireland and Eire:
Sean Kelly, 48, pleaded guilty to six charges last week, which included attending a place used for terrorist training and possession of an article likely to be of use to terrorists. Kelly was remanded in custody while two men and a woman, who also face charges linked to the alleged weapons training camp, are due to stand trial at Belfast Crown Court this week week. Although no details about the case were revealed during the hearing on Wednesday, a previous court hearing was told it was the prosecution's case that the alleged terrorist training camp at Greencastle was in advanced preparation for an attack by dissident republicans.
A recruitment event featuring the PSNI will go ahead at a Londonderry hotel today, a week after it was targeted in a firebomb attack. A man claiming to be from the IRA threw a device into the reception area of the Everglades hotel last Friday. Damage was caused at the premises after the device exploded as bomb disposal experts worked to make it safe. A police spokesman stated that they had considered cancelling the event but a security presence will be in place on the day in order for those who wish to explore a career in policing to feel safe.

It has been confirmed that Matt Baggott, the Chief Constable of the PSNI, will be retiring at the end of this month. He will step down on 29 June to be replaced by George Hamilton, who will take up his post the next day.

A review of intelligence linking a man cleared of the Provisional IRA's Hyde Park bombing to two other murders found no new evidence, a former senior detective in Northern Ireland said. Prosecutors had already decided there was insufficient material to charge John Downey with the killing of two Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldiers in Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh in 1972.


International:
Gunfire has reportedly resumed at Pakistan's biggest airport after an attack by gunmen that left 23 people dead on Sunday night. Many of the dead worked at Karachi's international airport. Several people were wounded, including a policeman. French violence broke out hours after the army said it had retaken control and all 10 attackers had been killed. Pakistan's Taliban say they carried out the assault. Karachi has been a target for many insurgent attacks. Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, was quoted as saying by Reuters on Monday: "We carried out this attack on the Karachi airport and it is a message to the Pakistan government that we are still alive to react over the killings of innocent people in bomb attacks on their villages." The dead terminal staff were said to be mostly security guards from the Airport Security Force (ASF) but also airline workers. At least 14 people were wounded. All flights are being diverted to other airports.

Two people have shot and killed two police officers in the US city of Las Vegas, before killing another person and then shooting themselves. The incident began in a pizza cafe at 11:30 (18:30 GMT) on Sunday, when a man and a woman shot at the two officers who were having lunch. They then entered a Walmart shop nearby and shot one person dead, before killing themselves. Police say there are no other suspects in the shooting.

Four people were arrested in Paris and the south of France last week week on suspicion of recruiting militants to fight in Syria. Officials have not confirmed any link with Monday’s arrests and that of Mehdi Nemmouche who was held by police in connection to the deaths of three individuals at the Brussels Jewish Museum last Friday. Nemmouche is understood to have had links with radical Islamists and had spent time living in Syria.

A suicide bomber drove a vehicle filled with explosives into the home of Libyan General Khlifa Haftar, who has regularly accused the Libyan government of supporting terrorism. Four people were killed and several others injured, though General Haftar was unharmed. The attack appears to be in response to General Haftar’s forces’ recently offensive against government-funded Islamist militia, with groups such as Ansar al-Sharia and the February 17 brigade being targeted. No group has claimed responsibility for this week’s assassination attempt.

At least forty people were killed last week after an explosion occurred on a football pitch in northeast Nigeria. The bombing appeared to target football fans who were walking across a field after watching a local match. It is understood that the majority of those killed were supporters rather than players, and included women and children. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the incident occurred hours after Boko Haram had threatened to target a university in the same town.
Kenyan police last week were investigating claims that a white woman seen trying to cross into Somalia could have been Samantha Lewthwaite, the British widow of a July 7 bomber and now the world’s most wanted woman. Police sources denied that the woman matched any description of Lewthwaite who has been on the run since 2011 when she fled Kenya after police uncovered a terror cell she allegedly ran in the coastal city of Mombasa.

Security has been tightened at the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in the midst of growing concern it could be the next target of Somali militants linked to al-Qaeda. A Kenyan police official said intelligence has been circulating around the region for the past two months that al-Shabaab is targeting American interests. Over 15 years after the US Embassy in Nairobi was destroyed by al- Qaeda with a massive truck bomb that killed over 200 people, the building's roof is now patrolled by armed Marines.
Deadly fighting in eastern Ukraine must end "this week", Ukraine's new President Petro Poroshenko has pledged. He was speaking at talks involving an envoy from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Russia's ambassador to Ukraine. Meanwhile, fighting has continued in and around the rebel-held city of Sloviansk. Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting separatists in the east - a claim denied by Moscow. In a separate development, officials from Ukraine, Russia and the European Union are due to meet in Brussels to discuss Kiev's huge gas debt to Moscow. Russia has threatened to cut its gas supplies to Ukraine, if no solution is found. This potentially could disrupt supplies to the EU, as about 15% of Europe's gas from Russia transits through Ukraine.

President Obama stuck to a “sacred obligation” when he agreed to a deal with the Taliban to release five prisoners held by at the US military facility in Guantánamo Bay in exchange for the freedom of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice has said. She reportedly added, “This is a very special situation. Sergeant Bergdahl wasn’t simply a hostage, he was an American prisoner of war, captured on the battlefield. We have a sacred obligation that we have upheld since the founding of our Republic to do our utmost to bring back our men and
 women who were taken in battle. And we did that in this instance.” Bergdahl had been held for nearly five years by the Taliban.

Leaders from the G7 have agreed to act against European jihadists returning home from the Syrian front. Their announcement came as French President Hollande revealed that “more than 30” French fighters had died in Syria. He said the G7 leaders had decided to, “co-operate to prevent, dissuade and punish” foreign fighters “who can undermine our security”. “We have unfortunately just had proof of that,” Mr Hollande added in reference to a fatal shooting last month at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.
Turkey has listed the al-Nusra Front, a branch of al-Qaeda operating in Syria and Lebanon, as a terrorist organization, in a sign that Ankara’s concerns are growing over the rise of radicals across the 900-kilometer border. Al-Nusra was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States in December 2012. Several other countries, such as Australia and the UK, as well as the UN, also recognize it as a terrorist organization. Although other jihadist groups fighting in Syria’s civil war claim to be inspired by al-Qaeda, the al-Nusra Front is the only one to be officially sanctioned by the group’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Rights groups have accused the al-Nusra Front of
 committing war crimes against civilians in Syria, including executions and hostage taking.


Cyber News:
The UK government has said it wants to hand out life sentences to anyone found guilty of a cyber-attack that has a catastrophic effect, under plans announced in the Queen's speech. Any hackers that manage to carry out "cyber-attacks which result in loss of life, serious illness or injury or serious damage to national security, or a significant risk thereof" would face the full life sentence, according to the serious crime bill proposed in this week’s Queen's speech. As well as targeting cyber-terrorists, the new offence in the proposed update to the Computer Misuse Act 1990 would also hand harsher sentences to those hackers carrying out industrial espionage, believed to be a growing menace affecting UK business.
The US Justice Department announced that an international law enforcement operation, Operation Tovar, seized control of the Gameover Zeus botnet, one of the most advanced Zeus variants, which had infected about 500,000 to one million computers running Microsoft Windows. About 25% of infected PCs are located in the USA. The GameOver Zeus network also began distributing the ransomware CryptoLocker in 2013.
Alarming news from the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA): you have "two weeks" to protect yourself from a major cyber-threat. The warning came as the FBI, in partnership with authoritie in several countries around the world, shut down a network of criminally operated computers that were stealing important information from victims' machines.


And Finally ...
Police have released a recording of a woman who dialled 999 to complain about the amount of sprinkles on her ice cream. The caller, who was not named by West Midlands Police, contacted emergency operators during a row with the owner of an ice cream van. During the minute-long call, the woman told the operator, "It doesn't seem like much of an emergency but it is a little bit. I've ordered an ice cream and he's put bits on one side and none on the other," she said. "He's refusing to give me my money back and saying I've got to take it like that." Police released the recording to press home the message that the 99 service should not be misused. A senior police officer said, "If someone is trying to get through to report a genuine life-or-death emergency, then a minute is a very long time to wait. "I cannot stress enough that the 999 number is for emergencies only."



Significant Forthcoming Anniversaries:
9 June 2009 Massive lorry bomb attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan, kills 18 and injures at least 50.
 10 June 1973 U.S. Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the United States (Pro-life and pro-choice activists organize gatherings on this day)
 12 June 2014 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil
14 June 1985 Hijacking of TWA flight 847 by Hezbollah and forced to Beirut. US Navy diver, Robert Stethem, is murdered by the hijackers.
 14 June 2014 US: Flag Day
14 June 2014 Trooping the Colour - Horseguards - Queen's Birthday parade
15 June 2001 A Sudanese citizen and an Indian national are arrested in India for plotting to blow up US Embassy in New Delhi.
 15 June 1996 Provisional IRA detonated a massive vehicle bomb in Manchester city centre. At about 3,000 kg in weight, the VBIED was one of the largest devices to function in peacetime UK.
 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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