The Al-Qaeda cell that never officially existed
Patrick McGuinness20th November 2005
When a huge cache of Al-Qaeda material was discovered in a small Birmingham hotel in the midst of this years’ July terror campaign, the whole episode was ruthlessly hushed up with national media turned away. Why was this? Well... no muslims were implicated.
Mr Burki, the hotel manager who unearthed the find, was warned that his life was in danger, and not to tell anyone about the event. However, now extremely disillusioned with the failure of the police to arrest the men responsible, he has now agreed to be interviewed about extraordinary events of 11th July 2005 at the Waqar Brentwood Hotel. His account is corroborated by other hotel staff.
In early 2005, two men arrived and rented rooms at the Hotel. A Spanish man took room 3, on the ground floor. He claimed to work for 'an American agency'. James Dwayer, thought to be Irish, took room 12 on the first floor. He was thought to work as a driver.
They brought much luggage with them, and refused all offers to assist in carrying it. More curiously, they also did not allow hotel staff into their room, cleaning sheets themselves. For months they came and went daily, the Spaniard keeping himself to himself while the Irishman would often hang around reception chatting.
Then, by early July, they both left, saying they would return and that cheques would be sent for the rent in the meantime. They gave firm instructions that no-one was to go into their rooms. The Spaniard was first to leave, at the end of June. He was overheard asking Dwayer to ring his girlfriend in Spain were something to happen to him. Dwayer left a few days later – having rung the girlfriend to check he was alright.
Soon after, terror very came to the UK, with the attacks on the London transport system on the 7th July – and Birmingham City Centre was evacuated on the 9th due to an unspecified terror threat.
On the 11th July, Mr Burki, now growing suspicious of his guests’ activity, asked his staff to go into their rooms and bring their bags to him, thinking that they were perhaps involved in drug-dealing.
But what he then discovered in the fifteen or so heavy bags made his mind boggle.
“I saw papers with the words ‘Osama Bin Laden’ – large letters… ‘Attack London’… ‘Attack Paris’…”. Amongst the documents were instructions on attacking trains, and airplanes, a map of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and many terrorist-related books.
Other items included electronic equipment, boxes of large nails, and of ball-bearings; a possible explosive substance; a large knife, with dried bloodstains, wrapped in cotton wool - in describing its length, Mr Burki extends his left arm and indicates to the bicep.
And not least, a colossal sum of sterling. “I don’t know how much there was. I opened it, saw it was money, and then quickly closed it again,” he said of the red-hot find. “It was difficult to lift the bag”.
Mr Burki then went to Ladywood Police Station. He found an officer that he recognised, who accompanied him back. Needless to say, the officer became extremely animated when he saw the discovery and summoned further help.
Two plain-clothed officers arrived. Accompanying them were five or six other policemen, “dressed all black… black trousers, black shirts, black shoes’. They took control of the investigation and were clearly intimidating; “They were very rude, pushing me, telling me to get out of my own hotel”.
A bizarre car accident then took place, a head-on collision involving a jeep and another car right outside the hotel – but with many police around, the drivers simply walked away. The area surrounding the hotel and car crash was taped off, and the hotel evacuated, due to the threat of explosion.
It was now unwelcome to take pictures – or to alert anyone. As he attempted to take pictures, Mr Burki was asked what he was doing with his mobile phone. He avoided its confiscation by saying he was calling his mother. He was ordered not to make any further calls. Abbas Malik, a journalist friend of Mr Burki’s, had his camera confiscated. He was allowed to stay at the scene by the pretence that he was Mr Burki’s brother. A BBC journalist who arrived and took a picture of the car crash was ordered away.
The police then set about sealing the terror stash in white evidence bags and removing it from the hotel. They also took CCTV equipment and tapes. Eventually, after maybe six hours outside, the hotel staff and guests were allowed to return inside. Mr Burki was asked to sign a blank sheet of paper, a request he reluctantly complied with. The only paperwork he was given in return was a notice of the search which confirmed that unspecified material had been seized.
During the next few days, the plain-clothes police returned, with statements for Mr Burki to sign. “Each day they came, and each time it was different,” he said of the changing statements. They warned that his life was in danger, that he should keep silent, and report anyone who came snooping around.
Mr Burki has a relative who received the Victoria Cross for fighting on behalf of the British, and cannot conceive that fellow muslims from the subcontinent could be responsible for Al-Qaeda terror against British citizens. "When a victim loses their hand, or an eye... we feel their pain".
It is hard to say what was intended to happen before Mr. Burki uncovered the hoard. One possibility is that it was left there to be discovered, to be blamed on hotel staff. It may have been crucial to Mr. Burki's own protection that he went in person to fetch a uniformed officer to witness the find.
The silence in the mainstream media on the event has so far been deafening. An article appeared the next day in the UK Daily Jang, an urdu publication, written by Abbas Malik who was at the scene. There was also a short mention of the discovery in a GEO news bulletin in Pakistan. But after that, nothing - and indeed, when the cleric Dr. Naseem mentioned the event to the Chief Constable of Birmingham Police, he confessed he had no knowledge about it.
An enquiry to West Midlands Police Press Office was able to confirm only that 'suspicious material' had been seized.
Pictures
Police document confiming seizure
First page of a police statement
Daily Jang article front
Jang article cont.
