Authors: John Mannion
With that Ed, Stuart, Lisa and Theo turned and walked back towards their car. As Ed and his team were about to get into their vehicle, Ed took one last glance back at the warehouse and the activity around it. The DCI was talking to a young man who looked to be in his mid-twenties. The man, dressed in blue jeans and green combat jacket, was pointing and seemed to be quite animated, gesturing here and there as he spoke. The DCI looked over towards Ed and signalled to him to come back. Ed, followed by his team, walked back to the two men.
The DCI introduced Ed to the man he had been speaking to. ‘Ed, this is Brian. Brian has just come up with some information for us.’ He paused for a second then, looking at the young man, went on, ‘Tell Ed what you’ve just told me.’
The young man looked nervous, perhaps wondering what he may have got himself involved in. He straightened his back as if pulling himself together, then reiterated what he had just said to DCI Day:
‘I work over there. At that loading bay.’ He pointed at a building thirty yards down the road from where they stood. ‘I have regularly seen a red Ford Focus, with a man in his twenties or thirties driving, come and go into this warehouse for the last month or so. He looked Mediterranean or Arab, you know? Well, tanned anyway. He always came alone. He would go in and leave again after about twenty minutes. I never saw anybody else; that’s what I found strange. There never seemed to be any other activity. Occasionally he would be carrying a large envelope. You would expect to see a lot more happening around such a large storage facility, but there was nothing. Just him.’
Ed looked at the man. He seemed to be a ‘switched on’ individual. Ed took a long shot:
‘Did you happen to notice the index number of this car, by any chance?’
‘Yeah. Funny, innit how some things stick in your mind for no reason?’ The man reeled off the vehicle index number like it was his own.
Ed turned to Stuart. ‘Do a vehicle check.’
Stuart set off back to their vehicle. Meanwhile Ed thanked Brian and asked if he would give the police a statement repeating what he had observed. Brian nodded enthusiastically in response. He was now looking very pleased with himself. His initial apprehension overcome, he now felt he was making a very important contribution to something – perhaps for the first time in his life. The DCI directed Brian to a young policewoman who would take his statement.
Then he looked over to Ed. ‘Presumably you will want to follow this lead? My resources are a bit stretched at the moment. We don’t have the same scale of operation down here in the sticks as you boys in the smoke! Do you need anything from us?’
Ed shook his head. ‘Not for the moment. I’ll keep you up-to-date if my enquiries turn anything up. With our recent luck it will be a stolen vehicle and come to nothing! But you never know.’
With that, Ed, Lisa and Theo turned once again and headed for their car. As they approached, Stuart announced:
‘Guv! I’ve got an owner for that vehicle. A Mohammad Jadoon, living locally. The vehicle’s not been reported lost or stolen.’
Ed thought for a moment, then announced, ‘We’ll pay Mohammad a visit, shall we? See what he’s got to say for himself. Better call it in. Get the locals to send some back-up. Just in case!’
With that, Stuart got on the radio and requested an armed unit attend the address to assist. Ed’s mind was racing as he drove towards the address on the outskirts of Slough.
As they entered the quiet cul-de-sac, Ed and the team members checked the house numbers. They drove slowly past the address they had been given, taking in the immediate surroundings as they went. Reaching the end of the cul-de-sac, they turned, intending to wait for the arrival of the armed unit.
Lisa was the first to spot the young man standing at the open door to the house. He appeared to be about to leave. He looked up and down the street several times, eventually fixing his gaze in their direction. Ed quickly assessed the situation. They couldn’t wait for the armed unit to arrive.
‘OK, we go in now.’
With that, Ed put his foot down on the accelerator and the car’s engine roared into action. The vehicle screeched to a halt outside the house. The young man stood at the door transfixed. Ed and his team jumped from their vehicle and ran up the short pathway to the front door. Stuart grabbed hold of the man, who looked traumatized by the situation. Ed shouted into his face,
‘Is there anyone else in there?’
The man instantly replied, ‘No, sir!’
Theo heard the man’s reply as he pushed past, entering the doorway to the property. As Theo moved into the house, the man pushed Stuart and a tussle developed in the doorway, blocking the entrance and momentarily preventing access to the other team members.
Theo, now standing in the hallway, glanced up the stairs and down the hall. As he did so, he heard a crash at the top of the stairs. Without a second thought, Theo immediately rushed up the stairs, gun now in hand and apparently blind to any danger. He felt as if some unseen hand had taken control of his movements. He rushed into one of the bedrooms, the adrenalin coursing through his veins and his heart pounding.
In the small bedroom, Theo came face-to-face with a young man of Arab appearance. The man raised his pistol, but Theo was faster and, as the report from Theo’s weapon faded, the young Arab fell backwards onto the floor. He lay there moving slightly, involuntarily. His weapon had fallen from his right hand and was now lying by his side. The terrorist stared into Theo’s eyes. In that moment, a feeling of utter hatred welled up inside Theo and his weapon was raised, once more, as if by some almost involuntary action outside his control. Theo fired another two shots into the body of the prone man. Then he turned and looked behind him towards the doorway. ‘Good!’ he thought. ‘Nobody there!’
Lisa was the first of the team to follow Theo into the room. By then it was all over. She stood in the bedroom doorway taking in the scene. Theo was standing with his back to her, looking down at the prone and now still figure on the floor. She slowly walked across to Theo, and gently placed her hand on his arm.
‘Are you OK? Are you injured?’ she enquired.
Theo slowly turned to her, and muttered, ‘I’m fine. Luck of the draw, I guess. I got a round off quicker than him.’
Theo knew he had given in to the rage; that moment of madness that lies behind most murders! He wished he could rewind the clock, but he couldn’t.
Ed entered the room. He looked around taking it all in, then gently removed the pistol from Theo’s hand which was hanging down at his side, motionless.
‘Come on you two,’ he said to Theo and Lisa. ‘This is a crime scene. Lisa get onto the locals. Get some forensics down here ASAP. Also get hold of DCI Day. Tell him he’d better get down here soonest; that there’s been a shooting. Theo. We’re going to have to get you out of that clothing and bag it up. Lisa. Stay here until the locals arrive. Don’t let anyone else in here until DCI Day and his people arrive.’
Ed and Theo slowly descended the stairs down to the front door, where Stuart was waiting with the man they had detained when they arrived at the address. It seemed like hours had passed since that moment but, in reality, it was only a few minutes. The local armed response unit had just arrived and was in the driveway to the house.
Ed informed them, ‘It’s all over, lads. One suspect down. He’s upstairs. He’s not going to be going anywhere. We’ve contacted DCI Day and he’s on his way here with the circus.’
Back at Slough Police Station, while Theo was giving his account of events at the house to the professional standards officers, Ed and DCI Day were in another interview room questioning the young man they had detained at the address. Ed looked straight into the man’s eyes:
‘Remember, you are under caution. Your request for a lawyer has been declined at this time, as this is an investigation into an ongoing terrorist incident. The vehicle in your driveway has been identified by a member of the public as being a vehicle seen, on a number of occasions, at a warehouse on a local industrial estate. Also, you fit the description given to us by that person, as the driver of the vehicle. The warehouse in question has been used by a terrorist cell operating in this area. Can you explain your reasons for visiting this warehouse?’
The man stared unblinkingly ahead, as if in a trance.
Ed continued, ‘Look, you might as well make things easy on yourself. Your friend at the house was shot dead by one of my officers, after he aimed a gun at him. That’s not something your run-of-the-mill criminal does every day in this country. You must have known your friend had a gun. Why did he have a gun? Come on. You’re in trouble, lad. Give me your side of the story.’
The young man seemed to snap out of his trance, cleared his throat and, looking at Ed, replied in a steady, clear tone,
‘Me and Mohammad. We did some time together in the Scrubs. We became mates. We was released within a couple of days of each other and, when I got out, Mohammad suggested we headed down here ‘cos somebody he knew had some work for us delivering the occasional parcel.’
DCI Day continued. ‘Who was that somebody your mate knew?’
The young man responded, ‘I ain’t got a clue, mate. Honest. Never met the geezer.’
Ed sighed. ‘Naiz. You are telling us that you came to Slough with somebody you met while doing time, to deliver the occasional parcel for somebody you never met. And you want us to believe you weren’t the tiniest bit curious? Our witness at the warehouse has described you as the one who did all the deliveries. Why was that? What did your mate get up to while you were here? Where did the parcels come from? What was in these parcels? You had better start talking, otherwise you are going to find a whole pile of shit coming your way, son, because your mate is dead and you are the only suspect we have right now. You are aware we are connecting your activities to the recent and ongoing terrorist activities?’
Naiz was reflective for a moment. ‘Look. I haven’t got a clue what was in the parcels. I supposed drugs or something. Mohammad was always too busy to do the deliveries himself. I didn’t dare look inside, as I had a bad feeling about who I was dealing with. It was usually Mohammad who collected the parcels. There were only a few of them – maybe six in all. Only once did Mohammad ask me to collect one. He was sick, so he asked me to go to the local park where I was to collect the parcel, which had been left inside a hole in a big old tree. He described everything very clearly, so I had a clear picture about where it was. I went there early to be sure I was at the right location and I saw an Asian-looking geezer. He was well turned out, a bit on the fat side. About forty, I would say. He had his collar turned up so I couldn’t see him that well.’
Ed asked, ‘Would you recognize this man again?’
The man replied, ‘No. I just told you, he had his collar up. I couldn’t see him clearly.’
Ed looked at DCI Day, then returned his gaze to Naiz. ‘OK. That will be all for now.’
The two detectives left the interview room and Naiz was taken back to the cells to await transfer to the more secure facilities at Paddington Green Police Station in London. Ed looked at the DCI once again.
‘I have a feeling our young man had a glimpse of the controller, eh?’
DCI Day replied, ‘I think you could be right, Ed.’
Ed continued, ‘I’m going to contact the Yard. Keep them up-to-date with what’s happening here and see if there are any developments anywhere else in the country.’ With that, the two men parted for the day.
Counter terrorism officers from around the country were successful, within a short timeframe, in tracing the starting points for the nine attack cells and the teams which had delivered the trucks, weapons and explosives. Their successes included, in many cases, identifying with some certainty the points of entry for the weapons used in the attacks. Detectives questioned a number of individuals thought to have associated with the various participants in the assaults. The only individual charged at the time with offences relating to the terrorist incidents was Naiz, a very lowly and naive operative.
There was a vast disparity in the professionalism displayed by the participants involved in the attacks on the Underground train, the nightclub bombing and, ultimately, the assaults on the power stations. Nevertheless, the investigators were in no doubt that all the attacks were linked. They were certain that there was one controlling mind behind all of the recent incidents. The actual method of assault on an individual nuclear facility was dictated by the control of entry procedures in place at the establishment at the time. At the six establishments, where security procedures at the main gate had been relaxed to facilitate access for contractors’ vehicles, a truck was used to force its way onto the facility. At the other three sites, access was achieved by cutting through the perimeter fence.
The security forces established that separate arms shipments had been smuggled into the country over a long period of time and these shipments had been taken to nine different holding facilities around the country. The collection of the arms from the points of entry to these holding facilities and their eventual delivery to the assault teams, had been conducted by separate planning cells who, in each case, appeared to have left the country around the time of the attacks on the power stations.
Needless to say, an international hunt was now underway for these individuals and, because their faces were clearly visible on security footage at the various ports and airports of exit, it would only be a matter of time before at least some of these individuals were identified somewhere in the world, apprehended and hopefully returned to Britain to face justice.
All of the dead terrorists involved in the bombings, the siege in East London and the attacks on the nuclear power facilities, were eventually, identified through the use of DNA, fingerprints or facial recognition. Interviews with family members enabled investigators to establish that every terrorist involved was either British-born, or had come to the UK in their childhood. Furthermore, all had visited Pakistan for prolonged periods in the preceding three years.