If extremists and/or foreign militants are found stockpiling massive caches of weapons and explosives, you’d think the public has a right to know. When “right-wing extremists” have been caught with weapons and ammunition caches, police and the media go into overdrive publicising the fact. Yet, when certain other groups are caught with truly staggering stockpiles of bomb-making materials, it’s a case of “nothing to see here”.

Terrorists linked to Iran were caught by intelligence officials stockpiling weapons near London.

Radicals linked to Hizbollah, the Lebanese militant group, stashed hoards of disposable ice packs containing ammonium nitrate, an ingredient commonly used to make home made bombs.

The plot was uncovered by MI5 and the Metropolitan Police in 2015 but the public and MPs were kept in the dark, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Three tonnes of the dangerous substance was found in its raw form and police eventually arrested one man on suspicion of plotting terrorism – but released him without charge.

For comparison, Timothy McVeigh used less than two tonnes of ammonium nitrate explosive in the Oklahoma City bombing. So, why were the British public not told about this astonishing and deadly stockpile?

His identity was kept secret, as were the whole findings until now – possibly in an effort to keep the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 alive.

According to the Telegraph, David Cameron and Theresa May, then the prime minister and home secretary, were personally briefed on what had been found in the sites on the edge of the capital because it may have pointed to a large terrorism threat to the UK…No target had been selected and no attack was imminent, sources told the Telegraph of the plot – which appeared to be in its infancy – when disrupted by officials.

Well, that makes it alright, then.

On September 30, the Met used search warrants to raid four properties in North London, leading to the sole arrest, this is despite sources claiming that at least two other individuals were involved.

A UK intelligence source said: ‘MI5 worked independently and closely with international partners to disrupt the threat of malign intent from Iran and its proxies in the UK.’

dailymail


So, terrorists stockpiling massive amounts of explosives are given a pass, and the public kept in the dark, while the Met proudly show off their collection of confiscated, deadly…spoons.

You could take someone’s eye out with that.

Punk rock philosopher. Liberalist contrarian. Grumpy old bastard. I grew up in a generational-Labor-voting family. I kept the faith long after the political left had abandoned it. In the last decade...