B.B.C. offices searched

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 6

B.B.C. offices searched

NZPA-Reuter Glasgow

British police spent Saturday evening searching the Scottish headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation for documents relating to a documentary about a British spy satellite, the 8.8. C. said.

It decided not to screen the documentary, which revealed a secret scheme to build an intelligence gathering satellite, after the Government said it would endanger national security.

The journalist responsible for making the film, Duncan Campbell, published the results of his investigations in the Left-

wing “New Statesman” magazine last week. He alleged that the Government had illegally concealed the project from Parliament The 8.8. C. said a dozen detectives, armed with a warrant issued under the terms of the Official Secrets Act which referred to the possibility of highly classified information being in the 8.8.C.’s possession, arrived at its Glasgow headquarters, and after discussing the warrant for several hours, they began a search. They were forced to halt their activities and return five boxes of material they had removed from the building

yesterday; evening after the 8.8. C. obtained a court order suspending the police search warrant

Three hours later, the detectives returned with a l new search warrant and resumed their investiga-1 tions.

The detectives summoned bewildered film editors and technicians by j taxi from their homes in the middle of the night to help them identify documents and pieces of film, according to a 8.8. C. radio report The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Neil Kinnock, called the raid “deeply offensive to standards of freedom.”