Met urged to apologise over Forest Gate raid

Scotland Yard has refused to apologise to two brothers and their families for an anti-terrorist raid in which an innocent man was shot, and relations with the Muslim community were badly damaged.

A report by Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) called on the Metropolitan Police to apologise publicly for the armed operation in Forest Gate, east London, which was based on flawed intelligence.

The IPCC supported the Met's decision to carry out the raid, which is understood to have come after a tip-off by a police informer that there was a chemical bomb on the premises.

But the watchdog criticised the Met for failing to plan for the aftermath of a botched operation. The IPCC said the families were "victims of failed intelligence" and that the raid on 2 June 2006 had damaged community relations.

The two targets of the raid - Mohammed Abdul Kahar and his brother, Abul Koyair - were arrested during the operation and held for several days before being released without charge after officers found no suspicious material in the house in Lansdown Road. Mr Kahar was shot in the shoulder in the early stages of the raid.

The IPCC has already cleared the firearms officer of deliberately shooting Mr Kahar. Investigators found evidence that the victim was accidentally shot by an officer holding a gun about two inches from his body during a scuffle in the dark.

The operation, which involved about 30 officers in the raids on two houses, with a further 220 in reserve, caused a backlash in the Muslim community.

The IPPC report, published yesterday, considered 153 complaints made by 11 members of the two houses raided during the operation. Only five were upheld, relating to the treatment in custody, although the IPCC criticised wider aspects of the operation.

The commission recommended that Scotland Yard should apologise directly to the families caught up in what was a "terrifying experience". The IPCC report said: "The police must recognise the impact of a high-profile operation such as Forest Gate on individuals who, as a result of an operation, are publicly branded as terrorists or associating with terrorists, but are not in fact charged with any offence. This impacts not only the individuals but the communities to which they belong."

Scotland Yard refused to offer an apology, saying police had already said sorry to the community.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Alf Hitchcock, of the Met's Diversity and Citizen Focus Directorate, said: "We have apologised on three previous occasions, to the community for the disruption we caused and specifically for the injury we caused in relation to this, and I reiterate that today.

"I think we need to move on from apologising over and over again."

Mr Kahar described the IPCC's report as a "whitewash" which had given a "green light" to police to conduct anti-terror operations the way they wanted.

"I would have liked to have seen some people get prosecuted," he said. "At the end of the day, a lot of people understand we were innocent families, we were not what they said we were. We have still not had an apology."

Deborah Glass, an IPCC member who spent several months investigating the allegations, concluded the police were right to mount the raid.

She said the intelligence related to the existence of a "highly dangerous explosive device that could be set off remotely" and was believed to be in one of the houses.

The police tactics were "forceful and aggressive", but that was "inevitable given the threat the police genuinely believed they faced".

The report also criticised the detention of Mr Koyair, who was held by police for several days. It also criticised the facilities at Paddington Green police station, where the brothers were held, saying they were unsuitable for long-term incarceration.