Saturday 21 December 2002

British Firm Told How To Irradiate Kurds

A British security company which is under investigation by Scotland Yard over an alleged plot to kill a guerrilla leader proposed the use of radiation to poison Kurdish prisoners. Aims Ltd, of Salisbury, Wiltshire, which has close links to British intelligence and the SAS, offered to arrange to irradiate Kurdish rebels held by the Turks in northern Iraq.

The company told Turkish military authorities that after the Kurds were released the radiation would make it possible to track their movements and follow them to their bases. It added that the prisoners could fall ill from radiation poisoning within 21 days.

Aims is already being investigated by Scotland Yard after The Sunday Timesrevealed that it had plotted to assassinate Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Turkish PKK guerrilla group, for a fee of £5.75m. Now it faces fresh allegations that it has engaged in a string of mercenary activities. Confidential documents seen by The Sunday Times show that Brian Smith, the company's boss who goes by the name of "Tom", suggested the radiation poisoning in a five-page briefing document prepared for the Turkish security authorities.

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