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British national security may have been compromised with the sale of a digital camera containing sensitive intelligence records, including the names of terrorist suspects, a news report said Tuesday.
British Foreign Office confirmed that the security services are probing the sale of the digital camera on eBay said to have contained MI6 images of terror suspects and other sensitive intelligence records.
A bidder, who bought the camera for 17 pounds (about Rs 1,400) on the auction website, found images of terror suspects, their names and fingerprints and even snaps of rocket launchers and missiles in the memory of the digital device, according to The Sun. A hand-drawn graphic revealed links between active al-Qaeda cells with terrorists names and occupations, it reported.
The British tabloid said the unsuspecting 28-year-old from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, only found the secret images when he downloaded his own holiday snaps from the Nikon Cool Pix device.
Officers have made five visits to his home in the last week to quiz him and his family, the paper reported.
"We can confirm we seized a camera after a member of the public reported it. Intelligence officers are investigating," a spokesperson for the Hertfordshire Police said. Among the images which are reported to have been found on the camera is a document, marked "top secret", which gives details of the encrypted computer system used by MI6's agents in the field.
Terrorism author Neil Doyle said: These are MI6 documents relating to an operation against al-Qaeda insurgents in Iraq. Its jaw-dropping they got into the public domain".
"Not only do they divulge secrets about operations, operating systems and previously unheard-of MI6 departments, but they could put lives at risk," he stressed.