Police officer caused major terror alert after ringing colleagues with a coded ¿bomb threat¿ for a joke

  • PC Hatef Nezami said bomb was on Condor ferry based in Poole, Dorset
  • Boat was already sailing to Channel Islands packed with people
  • Mr Nezami believed to have tried to call back and reveal ‘joke’ but took half an hour due to busy lines
  • It is understood that Mr Nezami has not faced criminal or disciplinary proceedings for incident
  • Patrick Mercer, chairman of Terrorism sub-committee: ‘I feel that the Home Secretary should step in and look at this’

By
Exclusive By Ryan Kisiel

06:07 EST, 25 July 2012

|

14:58 EST, 25 July 2012

Threat: PC Hatef Nezami, 48, rang colleagues at the police Special Branch office with a coded message that a device was placed in a busy port

Threat: PC Hatef Nezami, 48, rang colleagues at the police Special Branch office with a coded message that a device was placed in a busy port

A police officer caused a major terrorism alert after ringing a busy port with a hoax bomb threat.

PC Hatef Nezami, 48, rang colleagues at the police Special Branch office with a coded message that a device was placed in a busy port.

Specialist terrorism staff were so concerned by the call’s authentic nature that they started preparing for a full terrorist attack.

The constable, who has completed a regional Special Branch terrorism course, said that a bomb was on a Condor ferry based in Poole, Dorset.

However at the time of his call, the ferry was actually sailing across the English Channel packed full of people travelling to the Channel Islands.

Mr Nezami is believed to have tried to call back to reveal his ‘joke’ call but was unable to do so for half an hour as staff were engaged on all the available phone lines alerting authorities.

Remarkably, the Daily Mail understands that Mr Nezami, who has worked as a detective, has not faced criminal or disciplinary proceedings and was simply placed on uniform patrol at another station.

The maximum penalty for making a hoax bomb threat is a prison sentence of seven years.

Mr Nezami was seen leaving his
three-bedroom townhouse in Bournemouth in police uniform before
travelling to a local police station on two days last week.

It
is a major embarrassment for Dorset Police which is currently in a
major security operation patrolling the upcoming Olympic sailing events
in nearby Weymouth.

All officers have had leave cancelled and specialist firearms teams from forces across the country have been drafted in to patrol the stretch of water near where the bomb hoax was said to be.

Senior officers in the force are
frustrated that the matter has not been taken further and believe a
criminal investigation should be launched.

One
said: ‘It’s an absolute disgrace that something like this can happen
from one of our own officers and it’s swept under the carpet.

‘A lot of senior brass don’t want anything to happen to embarrass the force so close to the Olympics.

Hoax: At the time of Mr Nezami's call, the Condor ferry was sailing across the English Channel packed full of people travelling to the Channel Islands (file picture)

Hoax: At the time of Mr Nezami’s call, the Condor ferry was sailing across the English Channel packed full of people travelling to the Channel Islands (file picture)

'Odd': Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Terrorism sub-committee, said if the allegations proved to be true it was 'very odd' that Mr Nezami had not already been prosecuted

‘Odd’: Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Terrorism sub-committee, said if the allegations proved to be true it was ‘very odd’ that Mr Nezami had not already been prosecuted

‘One
officer even joked that he was “testing out the systems” and that has
been given as the official line if anyone questions the incident.

‘It
would have been a totally different story if this was a member of the
public doing this just weeks away from the biggest security operation in
Dorset’s history.’

Patrick
Mercer, chairman of the Terrorism sub-committee, said: ‘If these
allegations prove to be true then it seems to me very odd that this
officer has not been prosecuted.

‘I feel that the Home Secretary should step in and look at this.’

Mr
Nezami refused to deny the allegations when asked three times. He said:
‘I’m not willing to speak to you on this or any other matter.’

Both the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Dorset Police Authority were unaware of the incident when contacted.

A Dorset Police spokesman said: ‘We’re going to say no comment to anything to do with this enquiry.’

Chief
Inspector Steve White declined to give details on whether there was a
criminal investigation into the bomb hoax or if disciplinary proceedings
had taken place.

He said: ‘Dorset Police does not comment on internal staff matters.’

This
week the force referred itself to the police watchdog for failing to
find a couple who had died after a landslip crushed their car in
Beamister tunnel, Dorset, for nine days.

On route: The Condor ferry was on route to the Channel Islands from Poole when the hoax call came through

On route: The Condor ferry was on route to the Channel Islands from Poole when the hoax call came through

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