Secret documents left outside tube station

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 6

Secret documents left outside tube station

NZPA-PA London The Ministry of Defence was yesterday waiting to examine the contents of a mailbag, apparently filled with classified documents, found in a London street and handed in to the Press Association.

The 1.2 metre high grey bag was discovered lying in a puddle outside Warren Street tube station just before 11 p.m. on Tuesday evening. Boxes and cardboard tubes containing computer tapes and blueprints had messages scrawled on them by their finders warning the Ministry of Defence to take more care of their property. Three youths who found the bag brought it to the Press Association’s office in Fleet Street. They handed it over to a member of the editorial staff but refused to give their names. The bag was found to contain documents, com-

puter tapes and blueprints, marked with security classifications and apparently relating to naval matters, and was handed over to the police. One sheaf of documents apparently dealt with operator instructions for a guided weapon. A letter headed with the name of a senior naval officer discussed security problems at military installations. Other documents appeared to be the personal correspondence of senior current and reserve naval personnel. Minutes, apparently of a recent meeting of naval officers held in a university, were also included.

Boxes and envelopes which had apparently been torn open by the youths who found the mailbag were scrawled: “Carelessness costs lives.”

One of the youths said that they had just come out of a hamburger restaurant

when they found the mailbag lying in a puddle on the pavement. “There was a box by the side of it marked ‘Army pay code’ or something like that but we didn’t bother with it”, he said. “We carried the mailbag back to my place and had a look to see what was inside. We then rang the Press Association,” he said. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Obviously we will be interested in having a look at these documents. If they are genuine we will undoubtedly be conducting an inquiry to find out how on earth they came to be found lying on a pavement outside a tube station.”

“The security authorities have carefully considered arrangements under which classified documents can be sent through the post. This normally works satisfactorily, and this incident is being looked into,” said the spokesman.