LONDON — A second-hand camera sold on eBay by a top MI6 agent held secret records used in the fight against Al Qaeda terrorists. Names, snaps, fingerprints and suspects’ academic records were found in the memory of the digital device.
…
The man walked into Hemel Hempstead Police Station to report the matter, but cops initially treated it as a joke.
Yet within days Special Branch, the team of specialist anti-terror officers based in every county force, descended on his humble terraced home.
They took away the camera and the family’s PC and spent £1,000 replacing them.
Officers banned the shocked family from talking to the media.
That last bit obviously worked about as well as the first bit.
30 September 2008 at 12:04
It could be intentionally planted information, intentionally “lost” designed to out someone, scare them, confuse them, or otherwise put them off the mark, but in that case we’d be giving MI6 credit for cleverness.