/** Tools */

07 October 2006

Shhh! Police score anti-terror raid success

It looks like police have undertaken their first successful anti-terror raid of recent times and there's not a Mosque or a Muslim in sight:

"....the largest haul of chemicals of its kind discovered in someone's home in the country." - Burnley Citizen


"Police sealed off the home of Robert Cottage in Talbot Street, Colne, after storming the address and discovering chemical components that could be used to make explosives." - Lancashire Telegraph


"The home of another man charged with similar offences contained a rocket launcher and a nuclear biological suit...." - Socialist Worker


The chemicals were found at the home of an apparently lapsed British National Party member, as opposed to the home of a Muslim, so no front page national newspaper headlines for the discovery of the largest haul of chemicals ever found in this country.

It could be argued that the chemicals found might be used for a number of purposes other than manufacturing explosives but this wouldn't explain the press and media silence about the rocket launcher or the NBC suit that were also found in the raids.

Update: Ex-BNP member? Not quite, not according to the BNP's own rules. Ministry of Truth does the math.

Update 2: More on this story from: Blood & Treasure - large bomb apparently found, not many informed, Picked Politics - Ex-BNP member caught with “record haul” of explosive chemicals and Lenin’s Tomb - the bomb factory you won’t hear about.

Update 3: The BBC explains in an email why they never covered the story:
I have investigated how the story was missed. It appears a reporter from BBC Radio Lancashire investigated initial reports but the police "played it down". Our regional televison centre in in Manchester found out about the story only after it was reported in the Colne Times. By this time it was several days old. On investigation they discovered that reporting restrictions were in place which severely curtailed what could be said by the media.

Meanwhile, in the blog world, 'Rachel North' defends the BNP's right not to be labelled as terrorists against an Israeli national with legitimate fears about Fascism, even though white man's got a bomb complex - Mother of Satan, May 2005.

Update 4 24/10/2006: The two Fascists appeared in Preston Crown Court today and confirmed their names.
Court 10 T20061011
T20061012
DAVID BOLAS JACKSON
ROBERT COTTAGE
Plea and Case Management - Case Started - 10:51

The case was adjourned until January 15, 2007 for a plea and case management hearing. Trial date provisionally set for 12 February 2007 at Manchester crown court.

Of course, far-right terrorism has never yet been classified as terrorism by the state so it's unlikely this case will be any different.

What about the Home Office race relations report that preceded Jack Straw's attack on Muslims - the other story that's not making the news?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

What you said, really. The whole picture is of a deliberate, systematic demonisation of British Muslims, and our BNPers just don't fit the picture. The grand strategy of shoring up support for the War For Revenge, is bad enough, but for Peeping Jack to publish his little contribution just as a way of jockeying for a post-Blair position is disgusting.

The Antagonist said...

All of which ramped up, if we're honest, immediately following the 7 July 2005 incidents in London.

It wouldn't be terribly difficult to argue that state and right-wing entities have been the only groups to have positively benefitted from the events of 7 July, an argument which would then lead to questions about who might have had the motivation, the inclination, the resources and the capabilities to pull off the attack that would instigate the ceaseless demonisation of Muslim people.

Anonymous said...

Here's a slightly less successful police operation:
Police 'exaggerated evidence' against British 9/11 suspect

Still, being in the met means never having to say sorry.

Bridget said...

Another supposed ex-BNP member Tony Lecomber:

QUOTE
A statement by Joe Owens has now been released which claims that Lecomber is still working undercover for the BNP, and lays the blame for the murder plot solely at the hands of Lecomber, calling for Lecomber to be arrested under anti-terrorism laws, and for the conspiracy to murder. As yet, Lecomber has not been interviewed by the police.

Lecomber has been active in far right politics since the early 1980s. His role is mainly behind the scenes in planning BNP election campaigns, but his history of convictions for violence and plotting explosions have given him prominence in anti-BNP publicity.

Wiki

Lancaster United Against Fascism

The Antagonist said...

From the Tony Lecomer Wiki entry:
====================
In 1985 Lecomber was injured by a nailbomb that he was carrying to the offices of the Workers' Revolutionary Party. Police found 10 grenades, seven petrol bombs and two detonators at his home (Nick Cohen, "Hold On a Minute ... Will It Be Boots and Broadcasts at the BNP?", The Observer, 5 January 1997).
====================
A far-right individual, injured by a nailbomb he was taking to the offices of the left-wing Workers Revolutionary Party, could be said to have many parallels with other far-right terrorist attacks perpetrated with the aim of framing innocents, left-wing or otherwise.

Anonymous said...

The reports of an NBC suit are interesting. As far as I know you can't pick them up from Army & Navy Surplus Stores or from e-Bay, so, if the reports are confirmed, how did they get hold of them?

The Antagonist said...

Fair point, well made!

I can't help but wonder if the rocket launchers weren't "RPG-22 Neto light anti-tank weapons" which are capable of piercing heavy armour and up to a metre of reinforced concrete.

Anonymous said...

Actually, NBC suits (MK 3 large smock with hood, MK 3 large trousers, Rubber gloves, Dipco and Rubber boot covers, LBR Co. 17) can be found on eBay.

Rachel said...

Making a tit of yourself by not actually reading what I post again I see, Ant.

The Antagonist said...

That's certainly one opinion, Rachel. Here's another.

Anonymous said...

I'll believe you, i believe. I didn't like to try searching the internet for NBC suits myself. Maybe that's how these men got caught.

Bridget said...

Sir Ian Blair hints at Internment for Muslims

The Antagonist said...

In a post entitled, The Right Wing Bomber(s) Revisited, Postman Patel refers to the Nuclear Biological suit as 'an MOD Bio warfare suit' which, if true, is probably not something available via Froogle or Ebay.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hit and run like this but this item piqued my curiosity and I have for a long time been a sceptic of Nick Griffin, who took a bunch of British Movement rejects and made them into the political force we see today.

Everything about Griffin smacks of "plant", I suspect that the BNP is one of many targets for "subvert and control" policies by '5' and a subverted and controlled BNP would suit Blair right down to the ground as it could be used to wind the "Islamophobia" up here in the UK with a "hands off" approach for New Labour.

I am always amazed at how the police manage to find these people, if this person was a lone operator it was unlikely that he told all his mates down the pub and yet they found the lot...

As for NBC suits, any army surplus store can get one in for you, some farmers buy them for working in hazardous conditions on their farms so no suspicious activity there... very easy to make though as the B and C is just 100% air and waterproofing, the N is graphite lining, carbon powder is cheap and it don't take a genius to work out how to bond said powder to material using adhesive.

Ancient One http://votao.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

'Everything about Griffin smacks of "plant"'
That's a theory that seems to be spreading ever faster.

There's a link to a more comprehensive article on the Tony Lecomber incident here: http://82.69.12.18/lancasteruafblog/thelecomberstory.htm