Classified British defence documents found at bus stop
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
LONDON • Documents containing classified information from the British Ministry of Defence were found "in a soggy heap" by an anonymous person at a bus stop in Kent, a county in south-east England, the BBC reported yesterday.
The "almost 50 pages" describe details of British military operations, including Royal Navy warship HMS Defender's passage through Ukrainian waters off the Crimea coast last week and the likely Russian reaction. They also detail plans for a possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the United States-led Nato operation there concludes.
"There's an internal investigation into that situation," Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told Sky News yesterday. "It's something that none of us wants to see."
Most of the documents were marked "official sensitive", which is a "relatively low level" of classification, the BBC reported. An exception was one "Secret UK Eyes Only" document addressed to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace that outlines a US request for British assistance in Afghanistan, and asks whether any British special forces will remain in the country once the American withdrawal is complete.
The BBC did not report further details of the Afghanistan operation described in the documents due to the sensitivity of the matter.
A ministry spokesman told the BBC that an employee had reported the loss of sensitive papers, adding that "it would be inappropriate to comment further".
BLOOMBERG
