The Tsunami File (39 page)

MetPolice Magazine

LONDON, 15 September 2005 – One of the most experienced fingerprint analysts in the Metropolitan Police Service, Jonah Smith, has landed himself another plum assignment, this time with the United Nations Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Smith was until recently seconded by Scotland Yard to Interpol headquarters in the picturesque French city of Lyon. Interpol in turn sent Smith to Thailand in January of this year to help in the massive international effort to identify bodies of victims in the tsunami disaster.

Although he is a Met civilian staffer, Smith has always showed a strong aptitude for investigative work, his colleagues say. While in Thailand, Smith used his police instincts to uncover a plot to cover up the true identity of a German national killed in the tsunami.

Smith became suspicious when he found that a DVI file had been tampered with but he was eventually able to positively identify the body in question as that of a former Stasi spy, using only poor-quality partial fingerprints. Solid police work by the Met's Detective Chief Superintendent Adrian Braithwaite, assigned to the Thailand operation as joint commander, led to the subsequent arrest of a pathologist on Germany's DVI team.

Smith has been on sick leave in sunny Spain since being injured in a bombing incident in Phuket in April just as the tsunami file affair was about to be made public. He received a broken arm, suffered multiple lacerations and lost most of the hearing in one ear as a result of that explosion.

Thai police have yet to make any arrests in connection with the bombing, which killed one person and injured a number of others. Smith brushes off continuing speculation that he may have been targeted because he was about to expose the coverup.

Fallout from media reporting of the tsunami file scandal has caused heads to roll in Germany, where the spy's true identity as a former double agent had been a well-kept secret for many years. Observers say the scandal could influence the outcome of the German federal election, scheduled for 18 September.

Smith says he is looking forward to his new challenge working with the UN mission in Bosnia and to a new stage in his career.

“For a fingerprint man, being able to help with any major forensic identification operation is an attractive prospect,” Smith said at a small sendoff reception in London. “This sort of work is my life. But, for me, going to Bosnia at this stage is like a dream come true.”

Frank Delaney, a veteran Canadian journalist who interviewed Smith in Thailand for an
International Geographic
feature story on the tsunami DVI operation and who was also injured in the Phuket bombing, attended Smith's sendoff event. Smith credits Delaney with saving his life in the blast.

“I think Jonah and I are kindred spirits, in a way,” Delaney told
MetPolice Magazine
. “I suppose you could say that in the sort of lives we have, we're really always just looking for the same thing.”

Canadian-born writer, journalist and broadcaster Michael Rose has worked in senior roles for major media organizations around the world, including the CBC, Maclean's, and the Reuters news agency in London. From 2003 to 2006 he was Chief of Communications and Publications for Interpol. He draws upon that wealth of experience as a journalist, foreign correspondent and traveller for his Frank Delaney thriller series, which includes The Mazovia Legacy and The Burma Effect, both available from McArthur & Company.