英国反恐调查的五大问题

　

Five key questions for anti-terror investigation

　

桑德拉.拉维尔/著 吴万伟/译

光明观察刊发时间： 2006-8-24 http://guancha.gmw.cn

　

英国当局已跟踪了被捕团伙将近一年。巴基斯坦安全部队也提供协助监视嫌犯。

　

9天前，首都警察局（Metropolitan police）副局长保罗.斯蒂芬森（Paul Stephenson）对外宣称，他的手下挫败了一个“难以想象的针对民众的恐怖袭击阴谋”。新闻记者听后，即对此世界末日恐怖景象的描述提出质疑。在记者的追问下，警方只好把“规模之大，英国不曾遭遇过”的原意，由几万人的死亡人数更改为只有几百人。迄今，已有23名涉嫌发动恐怖袭击的疑犯被捕，其中包括两名妇女。警方审讯嫌犯期间，出现许多有待解答的疑点。

　

1） 真的有恐怖活动阴谋吗？

　

制订蔑视法庭罪的用意，原本是为了确保被告得到公正审判，而这条例却使得反恐官员难以公开回答记者提出的问题。但是，安全部门证实了来自美国的消息是准确可靠的。很明显，在过去几年里，安全部门已经收集了大量资料和情报，显示有人正在策划一场阴谋。

 

最初透露消息者是一个与遭逮捕人士之一关系密切的穆斯林线民。在长期的监视中，安全人员监视了嫌犯在家中和办公室的一举一动，观察了其参加的会议、在清真寺和健身房的活动等。安全人员还在巴基斯坦安全部门的参与下，追查嫌犯银行帐户的资金往来情况。

　

　

2）到底收集到了什么实际证据？

 

警方不愿意正式承认发现了任何物质证据。有人告诉英国广播公司（BBC），在进行搜查海威科姆（High Wycombe）树林时，发现一个装有炸弹部件的公文包。昨天晚上BBC还报导，警方在搜查过程中，在手提电脑上找到了记录自杀袭击的影碟。关于在同一个树林里发现一支枪的报导却始终没有得到证实。

 

这星期内政大臣约翰.里德（John Reid）说，通过在海威科姆、东伦敦和伯明翰的49处住房的搜查，已经发现了“确凿证据”。英国《卫报》报道说，在位于肯特郡的圣哈斯德（Fort Halstead）的法医炸药实验室工作的科学家正在检验调查中搜集到的物质。

　

3）恐怖袭击阴谋使用的到底是什么炸药？

 

警方已经确认袭击阴谋将使用三过氧化三丙酮（TATP, triacetone triperoxide）液体炸药。这就让人怀疑，他们将有可能把过氧化物，丙酮和硫酸藏在饮料瓶子里，以通过手提行李安全检查。炸药专家说，如果真是这样，液体需要在飞机上进行混合，以取得TATP炸药结晶体。

北爱尔兰法医科学机构（Forensic Science Agency）的杰里.莫瑞（Gerry Murray）认为，这么做，尤其是在客机的厕所内这么做是很难的。这些液体在混合时必须保持在冰点，TATP晶体必须干燥后才能引爆，而这过程就需要几个小时。

要达到一定程度的爆炸效果，至少需要大约250克的固体TATP。莫瑞先生说，但是，如果此人以前从来没有制作过炸药，除非他运气特别好，才能在飞机上制造出来。另外一个说法是，可以把事先做好的炸药藏在伪装的塑料瓶底部，以躲过手提行李检查。

　

4）到现在为止没有人被起诉的事实说明什么？

 

很有限。警方和内政部大臣表示，他们认为已经逮捕了19名主要嫌犯。在反恐调查中，如果有法官的批准，官员允许审讯嫌犯28天。警方将很可能在提出控诉前充分利用段期限。他们在充分完成侦察查前不大可能对如何人提出控诉，而侦察工作正在49个地方分头进行。反恐官员将和皇家检控署（Crown Prosecution Service）取得联系。嫌犯之中，五六人获不起诉释放并非不可能。

　

5）在英国机场实行这么严格的安检措施真有必要吗？

 

好像没必要。内政大臣里德指出所有“主要嫌犯”均被捕之后，英国还把威胁等级提升到最高层次，这等于说恐怖袭击即刻会发生。鉴于此，英国机场连续几天实施的严格安检措施似乎就毫无必要。警方和政府表示，如果他们再继续寻找其他嫌犯，也至多涉及外围人物。至于“挫败这个恐怖袭击阴谋可能引发其他人进行同样的恐怖行动计划”的说法是值得争论的。安全部门的官员说，这个目标明确、策划严密的阴谋，大概筹备了一年的时间。其他人采用同样的方式做同样的事情的可能性不大。

　

译自："Five key questions for anti-terror investigation"

Sandra Laville

Saturday August 19, 2006

http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1853741,00.html

译稿来源： 光明观察

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Five key questions for anti-terror investigation

　

· Arrested group were tracked for nearly a year

· Pakistani security services helped watch suspects

　

Sandra Laville

Saturday August 19, 2006

The Guardian

Nine days ago Paul Stephenson, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, told the public his officers had thwarted a plot to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

It was an apocalyptic scenario challenged at the time by journalists, who forced an admission that what was meant by these words was "on a scale never before witnessed in Britain", reducing the potential death toll from tens of thousands to hundreds. Today 23 suspects, two of them women, are being held on suspicion of plotting to commit terrorist offences. While police interrogate them, there are many unanswered questions.

Was there any plot at all?

The laws on contempt of court, designed to ensure defendants have a fair trial, make it difficult for counter-terrorism officials to answer this question openly, but security sources have endorsed information coming out of the US as accurate. It is clear that the security services have collected a vast amount of surveillance material over the past year, which they claim points to a plot in the making.

The original tipoff came from a Muslim informant, thought to be close to one of those arrested. In a long surveillance operation, the security services watched suspects at their homes and offices, in meetings they attended and at their mosques and gyms. The operation involved tracing the money that went in and out of their bank accounts and involved the Pakistani security services.

What physical evidence has been gathered?

　

Officially police will not confirm that any material has been recovered. Sources have told the BBC a suitcase containing bomb components was recovered from woodland being searched in High Wycombe. The BBC also reported last night that police had found martyr videos on laptops in the course of searches. Reports that a gun was discovered in the same woods remain unconfirmed.

The home secretary, John Reid, said this week that "material of a substantial" nature had emerged in the searches of 49 properties in High Wycombe, east London and Birmingham.

The Guardian has established that scientists at the government's forensic explosives laboratory at Fort Halstead, Kent, are examining substances which have been seized during the searches.

What were the explosives at the centre of the alleged plot?

Police sources have confirmed that the alleged plot involved the use of TATP, triacetone triperoxide, which was to be made up from liquids. This has led to speculation that peroxide, acetone and sulphuric acid might have been disguised as bottles of drink to get through hand baggage checks. Forensic explosives experts say if this was the case the liquids would have had to be mixed on the plane to attain the crystallised TATP explosive.

Gerry Murray, of the Forensic Science Agency in Northern Ireland, believes this would be very difficult, particularly if carried out in the toilet of a passenger jet. The liquids have to be kept at freezing point when they are mixed and the TATP crystals must be dried before being ignited, a process which could take several hours.

Some 250g (9oz) of solid TATP would be needed for a substantial explosion, but Mr Murray said if the individual had never made the explosive before he would need a great deal of luck to manufacture it on a plane. Another theory is that pre-made explosives would have been hidden in the false bottom of plastic drinks bottles to foil hand luggage checks.

What can we read into the fact that no one has been charged yet?

Very little. The police and the home secretary have indicated that they believe they have arrested about 19 of the main suspects. Under anti-terrorism legislation, officers are allowed to question suspects for 28 days if approved by a judge, and it is likely the police will want to use the full period before charging anyone. They are unlikely to bring charges against anyone until they have completed thorough searches, which have been going on at 49 separate locations. Anti-terrorism officers will be liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service.

It is likely also that a handful, about five or six, of the suspects will be released without charge.

Was it really necessary to impose such strict security measures at British airports?

It seems unlikely. The threat level in the UK was raised to critical, which means an attack is imminent, after the arrest of what Mr Reid said were all the "main suspects".

Given that, it seems the measures forced upon British airports for several days were unnecessary. Police sources and the government indicated that if they were looking for anyone else those individuals were peripheral to the inquiry. The argument that the disruption of such a plot might spark others to bring forward terrorist actions is debatable.

The security services allege that this was a very specific, well-planned plot, which took nearly a year to put together. It seems unfeasible that others were planning to do the same thing in the same way.

　

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