Brits are not checking people against terror database

Guardian:

The head of Interpol made an unprecedented attack on the British government yesterday, saying it was putting its citizens at risk by failing to check immigrants against a database of suspected terrorists.

Ronald Noble, secretary general of the international police cooperation agency, said Britain needed to "catch up" and enact tougher checks. The comments came as the UK security minister warned of a battle of up to 15 years against al-Qaida-inspired terrorism, and as the investigation into attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow continued across three continents.

Mr Noble, who was a leading law enforcement official in the US treasury department under Bill Clinton, told the Sunday Telegraph of his concerns. "We have the passport numbers, fingerprints and photos of more than 11,000 suspected terrorists on our database. But the UK does not check it against immigrants coming into the country or foreign nationals it has arrested," he said. "The guys detained last week could be wanted, arrested or convicted anywhere in the world and the UK would not know."

Six out of the seven suspects held in Britain over the recent attempted car bombings and the attack on Glasgow airport are not British. It is not known whether they are on Interpol's database. Interpol said last night that the UK makes just 50 checks a month of the database; France by comparison makes 700,000 checks and Switzerland makes 300,000.

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I suspect they were chosen for the operation because they were "clean skin" operatives with no prior contacts. While there is one report that one of the docs was delayed on a visit to Pakistan, that information may not be confirmed. My guess is, that if a former Clinton administration member is being critical of the Brits procedure, they must really be screwed up.