Weapons found at Iraq's UK embassy
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 Posted: 5:47 AM EDT (0947 GMT)
LONDON, England -- A cache of weapons and bugging devices has been found at Iraq's abandoned embassy in London, the country's newly appointed ambassador said.
Police confirmed that a number of firearms were found in a safe at the building in London's upscale Knightsbridge district.
The discovery was made when new Iraqi ambassador Dr. Salah Al Shaikhly recently opened the embassy for the first time since staff abandoned it just before the war started in 2003.
Al Shaikhly told BBC radio Wednesday the arms haul, which dates from Saddam Hussein's regime, included four machine guns, 10 handguns and four silencers. The weapons had been found in one of the 20-odd safes at the embassy.
"It was amazing, you really despair when you know this kind of arsenal was kept at the Iraqi Embassy," Al Shaikhly said.
"There were also other things which looked like electric cattle prods," he added.
Aside from boxes of live and spent ammunition, there were also telescopic cameras and bugging devices.
"I believe they must have been bugging their own people inside the embassy ... Such was the regime, it didn't trust anybody. Everybody was spying on everybody else," the ambassador said.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed a number of weapons had been handed in by Iraqi authorities. No arrests have been made as investigations continue.
"The current Iraqi authorities informed police of the discovery of a number of firearms found within their premises in south west London," the police spokesman said.
"They cooperated fully with UK authorities, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and a number of firearms were subsequently recovered. Our investigations are continuing."
The discovery of the weapons is likely to renew debate in Britain about guns and diplomatic missions, Reuters reported.
Under international law, an embassy is regarded as sovereign territory.
In 1984, police officer Yvonne Fletcher was killed by shots that came from the Libyan embassy in London during demonstrations against the country's leader Moammar Gaddafi.
The gunman was smuggled out with other embassy staff under diplomatic immunity although Libya accepted responsibility in 1999 for the shooting and agreed to compensate her family. |
