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Met pays £60,000 to terror raid brothers
Justin Davenport, Evening Standard16 Jun 2008
The two brothers at the centre of the bungled Forest Gate anti-terror raid will receive £60,000 compensation from Scotland Yard, it emerged today.
The decision to reach a settlement with Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 25, and Abul Koyair, 23, comes after more than six months of negotiations with the police.
The pair originally demanded £125,000 in damages for assault and negligence over the raid in June 2006 but it is understood they will now share £60,000 in a deal due to be signed in the next two weeks.
The police have already reached a settlement with neighbours inconvenienced by the operation, which involved more than 250 officers.
Senior officers are said to have agreed to the settlement as a "goodwill gesture" to avoid sparking further " community" tensions. They are understood to have rejected legal advice that they could fight the action.
The two brothers were arrested when armed police burst into their east London home acting on a tip-off that they were hiding a chemical bomb.
During the confusion Mr Kahar was mistakenly shot in the shoulder by one officer.
The pair were held in custody for a week while police searched their home but no device was found. They were then released without charge.
However, during the search their house at 46 Lansdown Road was extensively dismantled.
The brothers and several relatives were put up in central London hotels for two months while their home was repaired. Police spent £120,800 rebuildingthe property and the total cost of the anti-terror operation has now reached £2.2 million.
Lawyers acting for the brothers made a series of claims against the Met, including the cost of putting the family cat in a cattery and the cost of replacing clothes they said were "contaminated" by police searching their home. Police were also asked to pay the mortgage interest on their home, as well as the bill for installation of a burglar alarm.
Most of the family's demands were rejected but the Met has now agreed to pay more than £60,000 damages.
The deal is due to be rubber-stamped in the next two weeks but Scotland Yard said that because of a confidentiality agreement, it could not comment on the negotiations.
It confirmed the Met had reached an agreement with the former occupants of the neighbouring house.
Last year a report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission largely cleared police of blame despite their "very aggressive tactics".
The two brothers are believed to still live at the Forest Gate home which appears newly decorated.
Following the police operation a senior Scotland Yard officer apologised for the "hurt caused" during the raid but police have also defended the decision to mount the operation saying it was based on good intelligence at the time.
Reader views (1)
If you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear. That's the pro-42 day detention line. These brothers had done nothing wrong but they went through a fearful ordeal. De Menezes had done nothing wrong but he ended up with 7 bullets in his head. Don't be fooled, innocent people have plenty to fear from these powers.
- Graham, Birmingham, UK, 17/06/2008 01:00
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