IN
June 1995 though, came a dramatic shift in gear in the prosecution case. The
police discovery of the contents of a tiny locker unit at Nationwide in west
London began to emerge at the end of May and the beginning of June. Samar was
re- arrested and interrogated on the basis that the items discovered were a
"a different case", and indeed separate possession charges were brought in relation
to the contents. Inevitably though, the 'evidence' obtained from the locker
became blurred into that being used to prove the conspiracy charge. Indeed,
according to the prosecution it was a "terrorist arsenal" and was a "final breakthrough"
in the case. This despite the fact that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever
linking any of the items in this locker with the explosions at the Israeli Embassy
and Balfour House or, indeed, any others planned anywhere else.
Samar had rented the locker on 16 July 1994, she and Jawad admitted this at
trial. They rented it to store some items that Rida Mughrabi had just given
to Samar. According to the police they didn't discover the contents of this
locker until 25 May 1995. They were alerted to it, they claimed, by some Nationwide
employees who had broken in on 19 May because the rent had not been renewed
in April. If this story is correct, and the locker was not discovered earlier,
then the Nationwide employees waited a full six days before calling the police.
The contents of the locker were tampered with. It was confirmed at one of the
pre- trial magistrates court hearings that it had been emptied at least once.
The padlock was replaced and the evidence shows, for example, that there was
a blue plastic glove inside. Its presence is testified to in the statements
of some of the Nationwide employees, but it wasn't ever listed or photographed
by the police. Unfortunately, neither Samar nor Jawad can be sure of exactly
what was/was not in the locker because they did not keep an inventory of what
they stashed in it. But they do know that this piece of evidence, at least,
went missing.
What it did contain was: a small amount of improvised TATP explosive powder,
a little more made into two tiny improvised explosive devices, some chemicals
(sodium chlorate and some acids), three timer devices, two guns, face masks,
safety spectacles, polystyrene and a knife, a product information sheet for
remote control circuitry, aerials and electronic circuitry all of which the
police confirmed was of no explosive significance. There were also some political
books and magazines such as Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara, The Grim Reaper
by an ex-SAS officer, Marxism and Guerrilla Warfare, Freedom's Martyr, magazines
about the Israeli Army, magazines about electronics and magazines such as Combat
and Survival and Fortune Hunter which are available in most high street newsagents,
and a notebook of Jawad's.
The key to this rented locker was found in Samar's flat.
