LONDON // Leaks from an investigation into the Manchester terror attack are undermining the investigation, British police said on Thursday as the BBC reported that police had stopped sharing information with the United States.
A spokesman for Britain’s antiterror police said British investigators relied on trust with security partners around the world.
“These relationships enable us to collaborate and share privileged and sensitive information that allows us to defeat terrorism and protect the public at home and abroad,” the spokesman said. “When that trust is breached it undermines these relationships and undermines our investigations and the confidence of victims, witnesses and their families. This damage is even greater when it involves unauthorised disclosure of potential evidence in the middle of a major counter terrorism investigation.”
The block on intelligence-sharing has been imposed because of a series of leaks thought to have come from the American intelligence community”, according to the BBC. .
Greater Manchester Police declined to comment on the BBC report but prime minister Theresa May said she would raise the issue in a one-to-one meeting with US president onaldTrump at the Nato summit in Brussels on Thursday.
British home secretary [interior minister]Amber Rudd had already made clear her annoyance after American media published the bomber’s identity and details of the investigation before British officials felt ready to disclose them.
“The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity ... the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources and I have been very clear with our friends that that should not happen again.” she said.
But just hours after Ms Rudd complained, The New York Times newspaper again scooped British authorities and other media by publishing photographs from the scene of remnants of the bomb.
The pictures were apparently taken by police investigators and, according to British government ministry sources, leaked by US counterparts they had been shared with.
“We are furious. This is completely unacceptable,” a government ministry source said at the time. “These images leaked from inside the US system will be distressing for victims, their families and the wider public. The issue is being raised at every relevant level by the British authorities with their US counterparts.”
Speaking before her departure for the summit on Thursday, Mrs May said she would “make clear to president Trump that intelligence which is shared between our law enforcement agencies must remain secure”.
* Agence France-Presse
