http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=391582005
Thu 14 Apr 2005
The chemicals and equipment found in the flat could have made
enough
poison to kill hundreds.
Picture: PA
Police killer and his plot to poison Britain
KAREN MCVEIGH
Key points
� Al-Qaeda suspect jailed for policeman's murder during arrest for
poison plot
� Kamel Bourgass planned attack on buildings and consumer goods in London
� Laboratory to make ricin, cyanide and botulinum found at his home
Key quote
"These were no playtime recipes. These are recipes that experts give
credence to and experiments show work. They are scientifically viable
and potentially deadly" - Nigel Sweeney, QC
Story in full AN AL-QAEDA suspect has been jailed for murdering a
Special Branch detective and plotting to terrorise Britain with the
deadly poison ricin, it was revealed yesterday.
Police believe Kamel Bourgass, 31, a failed Algerian asylum-seeker,
planned to smear poison on door handles of cars and buildings in
London and to use it in a spray or to contaminate consumer products.
His home-made chemical weapons laboratory, in a flat in Wood Green,
north London, included recipes and ingredients to make ricin, cyanide
and botulinum - one of the most toxic substances known to man - and a
blueprint for a bomb.
Nine days after the discovery, in January 2003, DC Stephen Oake was
killed when he was cornered in a flat in Manchester during a botched
raid.
Described as a "dedicated and dangerous" terrorist, Bourgass was
yesterday jailed for 17 years for plotting to make poisons and
explosives.
It was also revealed yesterday that Bourgass was sentenced to life
imprisonment following a trial last year for the murder of DC Oake and
a further 15 years for the attempted murder of two police officers.
Last night, the Tories criticised the government, blaming its
"chaotic" asylum policy for the failure to deport Bourgass after his
application for asylum was finally rejected in 2001. David Davis, the
shadow home secretary, described the killing of DC Oake as a "tragedy"
which should not have happened.
Police believe Bourgass was part of a network of hundreds of Algerian
terrorists spread across the West, thought to be linked to terror
plots in the United States, France, Spain and Italy.
Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch, said:
"This was a hugely serious plot because what it had the potential to
do was to cause real panic, fear, disruption and possibly even death
to the public."
During the trial, it was revealed that scientists at the Porton Down
chemical warfare laboratories in Wiltshire later followed the poison
instructions found in Bourgass' flat. Their experiments produced
enough ricin and cyanide to kill hundreds of people.
Nigel Sweeney, QC, prosecuting, told the Old Bailey: "These were no
playtime recipes. These are recipes that experts give credence to and
experiments show work. They are scientifically viable and potentially
deadly."
Jailing Bourgass yesterday, Mr Justice Penry-Davey said: "You were, on
the evidence, the prime mover in a terrorist operation involving the
use of poisons and explosives, and intended to destabilise the
community in this country by causing destruction, fear and injury."
But Bourgass was not convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, and
eight other north Africans were cleared of any role in the plot, in a
setback that has led to criticisms of the Crown Prosecution Service
and the police.
Gareth Peirce, solicitor for three of the cleared men, said the case
had been wrongly used to boost the argument for war in Iraq. On the
eve of the US and British invasion there, former US Secretary of State
Colin Powell appeared to tell the United Nations that the London ricin
plot was linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leading militant in Iraq.
Ms Peirce said: "There was a great deal that this country was led to
believe that in part caused it to go to war on Iraq, erected on the
basis of an alleged major conspiracy involving ricin. It is
appropriate that that now is revisited."
But Home Secretary Charles Clarke denied the case was an
"embarrassment" for the government. Mr Clarke said: "I think that
firstly this is an illustration of the fact that terrorist
organisations exist and are seeking to damage our lives.
"Secondly it has to urge us on to find better ways of dealing with the
threat that they have. We will obviously keep a very close eye on the
eight men being freed today, and consider exactly what to do in the
light of this decision."
The trial of Bourgass for murder and attempted murder, and the second
trial which ended last Friday, have been subjected to reporting
restrictions because he was seen as the plot's "prime mover" and would
have affected a third trial which collapsed yesterday.
None of the trials or convictions could be reported until yesterday
because of concerns over prejudicing proceedings.
The chain of events which led to Scotland Yard and the security
services foiling his ricin plot began when a nationwide series of
anti-terrorist raids was launched in the late spring of 2002.
Intelligence services were aware that Islamic fundamentalists,
including many who had fled the US-led assault in Afghanistan, were
using Britain as a base to raise money for terrorists abroad. The
attempt to break the network led to more than 100 arrests, with
investigations stretching from Bournemouth to Edinburgh.
They followed a trail of suspects' false documents and, in September
2002, found a copied set of recipes for ricin, cyanide, other poisons
and a plans for a bomb at an address in Norfolk.
A police source said: "Finding the ricin recipe in Thetford was a
threshold, a defining moment. This was a very clear indicator that we
were looking at operational terrorists as well as people supporting
terrorist groups."
But the key breakthrough came in December 2002, after a tenth alleged
co-conspirator, an Algerian called Mohamed Meguerba, revealed details
when he was arrested in Algeria. He said he had known Bourgass in London.
Meguerba confessed to being a veteran of terrorist training camps in
Afghanistan and to having had numerous personal meetings with al-Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden.
He claimed that Bourgass had also been in a mujahideen training camp
in Afghanistan and was then selected for training in the making of
poisons at an al-Qaeda camp.
Bourgass, also known as Nadir Habra, went on the run after his
attempts to make ricin and other poisons were discovered at the flat
in Wood Green.
When he was finally caught, by chance, after a raid in a house in
Manchester where police were looking for another suspect, his role in
the plot - and his desire to escape - became desperately apparent.
Bourgass grabbed hold of a kitchen knife and killed DC Oake, stabbing
him eight times. He also knifed three other policemen during his
bloody escape bid.
Despite the best efforts of the intelligence services both in Britain
and abroad, it is impossible, even now, to be sure of Bourgass's real
identity and investigations continue into who he is.
He had numerous false identities and at various times claimed to be
from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, giving police dates of birth
between 1973 and 1975.
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