IF THOSE involved in prosecuting the war on terror take any satisfaction from the capture of the man known to them as Kamel Bourgass, then it must be tempered with the knowledge that the case raises more questions than it answers about the progress of that war.
After an investigation that involved 800 officers drawn from Scotland Yard, other British forces and the security services, even the identity of the man in the dock remained uncertain. So too did his intentions.
Before passing sentence, Mr Justice Penry-Davey asked Nigel Sweeney, QC, prosecuting: "Has it been possible in the course of this investigation to establish this man's true identity?"
Mr Sweeney replied that he was "hesitant" on the issue.
"It has been our case that if he is anybody, he is Nadir Habra, not Kamel Bourgass. That's our position," he said.
There were raids and searches at 72 locations in Bournemouth, Norfolk, Doncaster, London and Manchester, as well as police investigations in Algeria, France, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Spain, the United States, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Germany, China, Portugal, Morocco, Switzerland and Austria.
Yet Peter Clarke, the head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch, could only speculate yesterday about what the ricin would have been used for. Possibly in London, but maybe elsewhere; smeared on door handles, or used in some other way.
If that failed to instil confidence in the public, what the case revealed about the ease with which terrorists could enter the UK was, if anything, likely to be more disturbing. The man known as Bourgass and others made a mockery of Britain's asylum system. He had at least four false identities and was first recorded as being in the UK when he applied for asylum three years before he killed Detective Constable Stephen Oake. He entered the country hidden in the back of a lorry and when his asylum applications failed, he simply switched identities.
Mr Justice Penry-Davey said what the case did demonstrate "very clearly" was "the scale on which false passports are available and being used".
Lord Stevens, the former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, recently warned that up to 200 graduates of al-Qaeda's Afghan camps might still be in the country, and a police source admitted: "It's a large network, and I think it would be foolhardy to say we have damaged it beyond repair."
But it is not just terrorists coming from abroad that are causing concern. Security services say the next wave will come in the form of young, home-grown radicals who feel alienated by the country in which they are living - and there are a number of trials of UK citizens pending.
They also remain convinced that terrorists are actively attempting to acquire unconventional weapons. "There is no doubt that they are attempting to get weapons of mass destruction and we have little doubt that they will use them," one senior US State Department official said. |
A suspected al-Qaeda operative who stabbed to death a police officer has been convicted of plotting to spread poisons on the streets of Britain. Kamel Bourgass is serving a life sentence after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester. Reporting restrictions covering that conviction were lifted on Wednesday. Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned. Another man, Mohammed Meguerba, who jumped bail and fled Britain, is awaiting trial in Algeria.