Date published: 2006/06/05
The BBC says:
Police had "no choice" but to raid a house in east London after being told a chemical device might be found there, a senior Met officer has said.
Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman said they got "specific intelligence" about a reported chemical device, but nothing has yet been found in the search.
Police are waiting to speak to Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, shot in Friday's raid.
He and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, were arrested and have both denied any involvement in terrorism.
Police said they have resumed a search for a device which intelligence suggested might be at the terraced house in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, which could take until the end of the week.
Mr Hayman, head of the Met's Specialist Operations, said police had not yet found what they were looking for, but documents and computers had been taken away for analysis.
He refused to go into details about the information police received prior to the raid.
"We were left with no choice but to act upon that intelligence," he said.
"Public safety was our top priority."
If you take what they say at face value, then certainly the police had "no choice" but to conduct the raid. On the other hand, that doesn't mean they needed to shoot someone. And it's a bit unbelievable that they need a week to find evidence in a small house in London of an alleged massive and imminent terrorist threat. If these two men turn out to be innocent (and it is looking that way right now) then hopefully the police will apologise to them profusely and in public. In the media today the police have also implied that London has never been under a greater threat. If so this operation is even more unfortunate since it seems to have done absolutely nothing to reduce that threat and indeed by diverting police resource might allow the alleged real threat to go unprevented.
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