Author: Vincent Moss
Publication: sundaymirror.co.uk
Date: 14 May 2006
URL: http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17075498%26method=full%26siteid=62484%26headline=m15-infiltrated-by-al-qaeda--name_page.html
Muslim recruits suspected
Terrorists from al-Qaeda have infiltrated
Britain's security services, the Sunday Mirror can reveal.
Bosses at M15 believe they unwittingly recruited
the Muslim extremists after the July 7 suicide bombings in London last year
which killed 52 people.
They were signed up as part of a drive to
find more Muslims and Arabic speakers to work as spies to help prevent future
attacks by Osama bin Laden fantatics.
Spymasters found some of the agents in Britain's
universities and colleges and persuaded them to pass on information about
suspected terrorists.
But a senior ministerial source has told the
Sunday Mirror: "The truth is that it has now been discovered that some
of those people have strong links with al-Qaeda.
"There was always a risk that with such
a speedy and widespread recruitment some would turn out to be bad eggs.
"But the recruitment has meant we are
now in a much better position to stop al-Qaeda attacks than we have ever been
before. Several planned attacks have already been stopped thanks to the high
quality of our intelligence." But the disclosure that suspected terrorists
have infiltrated the security services will be a further embarrassment to
Government Ministers.
They came under ferocious pressure last week
after an official report claimed MI5 had failed to follow up vital leads before
the July 7 bombings.
The report from the Parliamentary Intelligence
and Security Committee (ISC) said greater coverage by M16 - Britain's overseas
spies - in Pakistan and more manpower "might have alerted the agencies
to the intentions of the July 7 group".
But MI5 director-general Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller
is masterminding a campaign to hire hundreds more intelligence officers to
the service.
She is looking for IT experts, technicians
and language specialists to help monitor "traffic" via emails and
phone calls between al-Qaeda terror cells across the world.
MI5 is also offering £27,000 a year
for "mobile surveillance officers" to follow targets who are part
of "national security investigations".
But the service warns that its strict vetting
process means it takes up to eight months to consider applications.
The ISC report last week found that two of
the July 7 bombers - Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer - were known
to the security services.
But they were not seen as a high priority
and M15's manpower was diverted to investigate other suspects.
The pair were among the four suicide bombers
who detonated their homemade devices on three Tube trains and a bus in the
worst terrorist attack in British history.
SECRET HISTORY OF CENTURY OF SPYING
MI5 was founded in 1909, but its title then
was the Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau.
IT wasn't until 1916 that it was called MI5,
standing for Military Intelligence Section 5, although its official title
is the Security Service.
MI5's primary role is to gather intelligence
on those posing a threat to homeland security. MI6 keeps tabs on Britain's
enemies abroad.