Argus Europe Ltd

Tony Blair had to be rushed on to his plane at an Israeli airport after one of his British bodyguards accidentally fired his gun causing a security scare.

Nobody was hurt in the incident at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport and Mr Blair’s spokesman said the former Prime Minister had not heard the gunshot.

But an Israeli police spokesman said that in the confusion Mr Blair was hurried on to his plane.

Accidental firings are taken extremely seriously in Israel and its Airports Authority has launched an inquiry.

"One of his bodyguards accidentally fired his gun, and the bullet hit the ground," said, Maayan Malkin, an IAA spokesman.

The incident took place as Mr Blair was leaving Ben Gurion, the main international airport in Israel, after spending a few days in the country in his capacity as international envoy for Palestinian development.

Since being appointed as Middle East representative for the Quartet - the diplomatic grouping of America, Russia, the United Nations and European Union - Mr Blair has visited many times using commercial and private flights.

Earlier this year Israeli fighter planes intercepted a private jet carrying Mr Blair after the plane failed to identify itself adequately as it approached Israeli airspace.

In June an official farewell on the tarmac at Ben Gurion for Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, ended in chaos after an Israeli policeman guarding the event shot himself dead.

In September another of Mr Blair’s bodyguards left their gun in the lavatory of a Starbuck’s coffee shop near his London home.

Securiplan Plc has been fined £95,000 with £550,000 costs for an offence under the Private Security Industry Act 2001.

The case at Southwark Crown Court on November 7 was for 19 offences of deploying unlicensed security operatives between March and September 2006; hence a £5,000 fine per count. The guarding contractor will also pay the Security Industry Authority (SIA) £550k to meet most of the costs of the investigation and prosecution. It is an offence contrary to Section 5 of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 to deploy unlicensed security operatives. The company had pleaded guilty to the offences on November 3. The SIA offered no evidence against a director of the company and he was acquitted.

Speaking on behalf of the company, Andrew Mitchell QC said at an earlier hearing: "Securiplan apologises for the continued deployment of unlicensed guards for up to six months after the enforcement date, which had the effect of undermining the regulatory regime that was designed to protect the public."

Before sentencing, His Honour Judge Rivlin QC said: "Knowing perfectly well that deployment was against the law, in a period of approximately five months, Securiplan deployed many unlicensed operatives. This was, I am satisfied, the consequence of a deliberate commercial decision arrived at in the hope and expectation that the heavily stretched SIA would take no action against them. These counts constitute wholesale breaches of the Act. This is a particularly serious matter as Securiplan were amongst the leaders in the field. Any such policy had grave consequences not merely in terms of deployment, but in undermining the new licensing regime. In some cases, Securiplan entered into new contracts, or rolled over existing contracts, knowing the inevitable outcome would be that those companies would be recipients of unlicensed guards. The SIA has, in my judgement, quite rightly not prosecuted individuals who were sent out unlicensed - they have prosecuted the real offenders. Those individuals should never have been placed in such an invidious position by their employer, who was in a position of trust with their employees. Certain employees were treated in a disrespectful manner. The widespread nature of offending and continuance over time has resulted in this being an obviously serious case. The gravity of the situation is only exemplified by the fact that 20 major companies, including companies of national renown, chose to terminate their contracts with Securiplan. In consequence of its action, this company has already suffered very substantial financial losses due to contracts being lost or terminated by customers. I am satisfied that this ran into millions of pounds of lost business. I must stress that it was, in my opinion, entirely self-inflicted."

Taking into account mitigating factors such as; the company’s financial losses, the company’s public apology to the SIA, difficulties of the transition to licensing, previous good character and the length of the investigation, Judge Rivlin said: "I must look at the overall scale of offending which was serious and financially driven. It is important that companies in this industry should appreciate the seriousness of the legislation and the seriousness of the failure to comply."

During earlier proceedings, the judge made clear that, in his view, the SIA had acted with complete propriety in this case. Andy Drane, SIA deputy chief executive, said afterwards: "The judge has made clear that this was serious offending and prosecution was justified. This guilty plea and the sentences imposed by the court bring to an end a long process of investigation and proceedings in which the SIA has been subjected to fierce and relentless legal challenges. As a result of these findings, the regulatory regime has been strengthened and this enhances the protection of the public. I am pleased that, during this case, our power to prosecute generally has been confirmed and that it was found we have acted with complete propriety. This brings this matter to a close and we will move forward constructively recognising that these events occurred in 2006. I wish to pay tribute to the commitment and resilience of the SIA investigators in this case and to the quality of advice and support given to us by our legal advisors."

The British Security Industry Association after the case welcomed what it termed the robust action taken by the Security Industry Authority against Securiplan plc.

BSIA Chief Executive, David Dickinson, commented afterwards: “As a strong supporter of the Private Security Industry Act, the BSIA welcomes this action which follows the deployment of unlicensed operatives by Securiplan. We and our members support robust investigation of breaches of the Act and are pleased that this case has been brought to an appropriate conclusion. We also welcome the fact that Securiplan will pay £550,000 costs to the SIA, a cost which licence payers may otherwise have incurred.

“The regulatory regime has certainly been strengthened through this case and its conclusion has provided clarity to any company tempted to deploy unlicensed operatives that this approach will not be tolerated.”

Following the Information Commissioner’s call on 29th October for Chief Executives to take responsibility for data protection safeguards, the British Security Industry Association is emphasising that all aspects of security should be a matter of major priority for organisational heads.

BSIA Chief Executive, David Dickinson, comments: ‘Data protection safeguards are essential to any business in terms of the security of both the organisation itself and the customers that it serves. With identity fraud a spectre that continues to haunt both the public and private sectors, it is particularly important that data is disposed of securely by a professional information destruction company to ensure that any confidential waste does not fall into the wrong hands.’

The bodyguards were employed at  the British embassy in Kharto

Two British Embassy bodyguards have been expelled from Sudan, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

The Sudanese government had accused the men of running over and seriously injuring two security officers during a row over a parking space.

However, the British Embassy denies its men intentionally hurt anyone and said there were conflicting accounts of the incident at the UN’s HQ in Khartoum.

A Foreign Office spokesman said relations should be unaffected.

Sources say Sudanese guards had tried to stop the British team parking in a reserved space.

Contracts expired

Ali Yusuf, of Sudan’s foreign ministry, said two members of the British ambassador’s close protection team were told to leave the country after the incident.

However, British officials said the bodyguards had been due to leave because their contracts had expired.

A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm that two embassy employees have left Sudan as part of a routine rotation.

“We were given formal notice that we should consider them expelled but we agreed that this should not affect bilateral relations.”

The incident in August which was widely covered in the local newspapers caused a political storm in Khartoum.

The decision to expel the bodyguards comes at a sensitive time for relations between Britain and Sudan.

The Sudanese government wants the UK to support plans to delay the International Criminal Court case against its president Omar Al Bashir who stands accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity for atrocities committed in Darfur.

Today, the Security Industry Authority (SIA) has published an interim Impact Assessment, which contains further information about the Government’s proposals to license private investigation activities and precognition agents.

The interim Impact Assessment confirms’ Ministers’ intention to develop competency-based licensing, subject to the agreement of the necessary Orders by Parliament.

The interim Impact Assessment is available on the SIA website:

www.the-sia.org.uk

There is disagreement between Moscow and Tbilisi over whether or not Russia has begun withdrawing troops from Georgia, as promised.

Announcing a “pull-back” from Georgia proper into South Ossetia, a Russian general made clear he did not regard the province as Georgian territory.

According to Russian media, some combat units inside South Ossetia were withdrawn to Russia during the day.

A top Georgian official said there was no evidence of any Russian withdrawal.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier promised to abide by the terms of a ceasefire brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The conflict over South Ossetia erupted 11 days ago, when the Georgian army tried to wrest back control and Russia sent in its troops to drive them out.

Russian troops remain stationed near the Georgian capital Tbilisi, with Moscow saying it has the right to keep some troops as peacekeepers in a buffer zone around South Ossetia.

The West has repeatedly urged Russia to withdraw its troops and France has said it will call a special EU summit if Russia does not comply.

Mr Medvedev, who was in North Ossetia to decorate Russian soldiers for valour during the recent fighting, has promised to “do whatever is necessary” to maintain security in the region.

“If anyone thinks he can kill our citizens without being punished, or kill our soldiers and officers, who are peacekeepers, we will never allow this,” he said.

He added that Russian soldiers had demonstrated that they had recovered from the crisis of the 1990s and were now a fighting force again.

Blackwater, the US private military contractor widely accused of abuse of power in Iraq, is getting out of the security business.

Company executives said they are moving away from security work in the wake of close media scrutiny of private contractors’ behaviour in Iraq, particularly a Baghdad shooting involving Blackwater employees that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead. The incident is under investigation by American law enforcement.

“The experience we’ve had would certainly be a disincentive to any other companies that want to step in and put their entire business at risk,” Blackwater founder and chief executive Erik Prince told an Associated Press reporter who was given a daylong tour of the company’s headquarters.

Anne Tyrrell, a Blackwater spokesman, said the company has not planned any “shift,” but rather that the company would grow in other areas besides private security.

“When we are seeking to expand the business we will be doing it in other area,” she said. “We don’t see that market growing”.

Blackwater has made hundreds of millions of dollars off of contracts to guard US state department officials. Its seemingly ubiquitous presence, combined with the larger-than-life personality of the conservative Prince, turned Blackwater into an emblem for the privatised military that the Bush administration relied upon to help wage the Iraq war.

The company also operated under broad legal immunity from criminal prosecution in Iraq, attracting criticism from government officials in Washington as well as Baghdad. The US Congress ultimately passed legislation bringing contracting firms under the American military code of justice.
Blackwater’s now plans to focus attention on its expansive rural training facilities. Its North Carolina home attracts swarms of US military, law enforcement and local officials each year.

The company also has expanded its aviation division, which provides airplane and helicopter maintenance and also drops supplies into hard-to-reach military bases. A 6,000-foot runway is under construction and a large map in the company’s hanger shows units based across the world, from Africa to the Middle East to Australia.

“Our focus is away from security work. We’re just not bidding on it,” Blackwater president Gary Jackson told the Associated Press.

The debate over how much of military operations should be turned over to for-profit firms has also touched on contractors’ ability to protect its own employees. Four Blackwater workers were murdered in 2004 in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, then a hotbed of violence, and seven more died in a roadside bomb attack a year later.

Five British private contractors, including IT consultant Peter Moore, were kidnapped from the Baghdad finance ministry by a Shiite militant group 14 months ago. Anguish over their plight flared this week after reports that one of the hostages succumbed to depression and killed himself while in captivity.

From the Guardian

A soldier who boasted on Facebook that he had served with the SAS and killed more than 100 people has resigned from the army after he was exposed as a fantasist by genuine soldiers.

Jim McAuley bragged that he had been a paratrooper at the battle of Goose Green during the Falklands war and claimed to have been the second SAS man on the balcony during the London Iranian Embassy siege 27 years ago. He also claimed that he had spent time in Afghanistan: “I did a spell with the boys in black but can’t really say too much.” He boasted that he had taken out two enemy machine gun emplacements in the first Gulf war and was involved in the rescue of captured Irish Rangers in Sierra Leone.

In fact, he used to serve in the Army Catering Corps and for many years organised local poppy collections in Chorley for the Royal British Legion. In recent years he had been training cadets at the Lancashire Army Cadet Force in Preston.

He was forced to apologise and quit his job after admitting his claims of being in the Paras and SAS were lies. He was caught out after serving soldiers sent him messages posing as a woman, Jenny Gilbert. They threatened to expose him and he backed down after they sent a message demanding an apology.

One of the soldiers told McAuley on an Army blog: “We … take a very dim view of people like yourself who try to live off the glory of these actions, especially given that we have lost many good comrades who were involved in them.

“It is our experience that people such as yourself (we term them as Walter Mitties) once caught tend to lay low for a while then surface somewhere else. We will be watching, of that have no doubt.”

McAuley, who is married with an adult son, apologised in a local newspaper.

The Sunday Telegraph has reported that Defence Chiefs have organised an emergency review of the Army’s Snatch vehicle following the deaths of four soldiers in Afghanistan. Through investment in Mastiff and Ridgback vehicles we are already reducing the number of patrolling roles in which we use the Snatch Land Rover. We are also able to use the high mobility vehicles such as Viking, Land Rover WMIK, and the Jackal MWMIK to operate away from tracks and trails and be less predictable, further reducing the need for Snatch.

However we want to ensure that the Commanders have the best range of vehicles available to them so that they have a choice. Defence Secretary Des Browne said in a recent interview: “We’re trying to find vehicles that provide an enhanced level of protection, particularly against mine blasts, but that do not present to the local Afghan communities a threatening appearance. We don’t occupy this country and we don’t go into villages and communities in the way in which the Soviets did, in armoured vehicles, turning the people off and turning the people against this, because that would be far more dangerous for our people.”

So while we are continuing to review the requirement, consider alternatives, and investigate modifications and improvements that can be made to Snatch it is likely there will continue to be a need for some Snatch vehicles as part of the force mix.

Two servicemen from the RAF Regiment were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The pair died during the explosion in Kandahar Province on Sunday 13 April at 1848 local time, the MoD said.

Two other service personnel were injured in the incident, which took place during a routine patrol 1.2 miles (2km) west of Kandahar Airfield.

Next of kin of all those involved have been notified.

Period of grace

An MoD statement said that medical treatment was provided at the scene and all four were evacuated to the field hospital at Kandahar Airfield.

“Sadly, despite the best efforts of the medical team, two of the servicemen died as a result of their wounds,” the statement added.

The injuries of the two surviving personnel are not thought to be life-threatening.

A 24-hour period of grace would be observed before further details were released, the MoD said.

The deaths bring the number of UK service personnel killed in Afghanistan to 93.