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August 1, 2006
UK: Forest Gate Muslim in Child Pornography Probe
On July 24 we described the aftermath of the incident from June 2, when police raided an address in Lansdown Road, Forest Gate in east London. Two brothers were arrested, suspected of having a chemical weapon in the house. One of the brothers, 23 year old Mohammed Abdul Kahar (right in the picture), was shot in the shoulder during the raid, leading to a backlash from extremist elements in the Muslim community.
The police action, codenamed Operation Volga had involved 250 officers, and the house was torn apart in their hunt for the chemical weapon, which was not found. As a result, the Metropolitan Police agreed to house the brothers and their entire family in the Kings Cross Holiday Inn hotel, at a cost to the taxpayer of £30,000 ($56,243) per month, without additional expenses.
The Metropolitan police had issued an apology to the family, and there was mention of Mohammed Abdul Kahar being given compensation for his ordeal, amounting to £500,000 ($937,298).
Now, it appears that even if he does get his compensation for being shot, Mohammed Abdul Kahar will be undergoing more unpleasant treatment. For this weekend's News of the World has revealed that a collection of images of child pornography have been found on a computer retrieved from the address during the raid. Forensic examination has now shown that they appear to have been uploaded by Kahar.
Unfortunately for his younger brother, 20-year old Abul Koyair, the photograph which is displayed in the NoW article, purporting to be Kahar, is in fact Abul Koyair, who is not being accused of downloading child pornography.
The News of the World claims that Scotland Yard have approached the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) who have recommended that charges be brought. Police are expected to be questioning Kahar imminently.
A CPS source stated: "This isn't what officers expected to find when they were searching the computer files. The child pornography has been graded 'high level' and the images are extremely disturbing. These are very serious offences and will be treated like any other case of its kind."
The News of the World additionally claims that officers have said that the reason the gun went off was because Abul Koyair had tried to struggle with an armed officer when the raid happened, causing the gun to go off and shoot his elder brother. The officers' report has been submitted to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is currently running an inquiry into the evens of June 2.
If both of these accounts are true, then a severe blow will be made against those members of the now-banned group Al Ghurabaa who exploited the event to claim that London police were deliberately targeting Muslims to be shot.
The News of the World further states that the family who are still residing in the Holiday Inn hotel are preparing for the arrival "home" of another brother, who is soon to be released from prison following his third conviction for armed robbery.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 1, 2006 2:15 PM
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