Cross-border spying on “Euro-anarchists”

Find some updates about what became public about Mark Kennedy and other undercover agents in Germany and, vice versa, activities of German undercover police in UK.

All mentioned quotes are from a report that was given by the chief of the German Federal Investigation Bureau (“Bundeskriminalamt”), Joerg Ziercke in the Home Affairs Committee in the Bundestag on 26 January 2011.

Please notice the difference of responsibility and powers between German Federal Investigation Bureau and State police (Laenderpolizei).

• The crossborder exchange of undercover cops is usual, claims the Chief of the German Federal Investigation Bureau. Targets would be “euro-anarchists, militant left extremists and terrorists”.
• According to him the same measures are carried out with “hooligans, around world championships or other sport events”. Because all this would be about “serious crime”, police must be “international and conspirative”
• Ziercke states that police need to act against a “Europeanisation of the anarchist scene” that would operate like “tourism”. Ziercke pointed out Greece, Spain, UK, France and Denmark as anarchist hot-spots
• Foreign undercover cops are seen by German police law not as members of the German police, but “confidential persons”. This allows them to operate much more freely, e.g. they don’t need judge or prosecutors permissions to enter private sphere. But officially they are not allowed to commit crimes, not even for upholding their “legend”
• German police laws don’t have defined rules for deployments of foreign undercover police
• Every mission of foreign cops must be announced and then permitted. The legal framework is a bilateral treaty between the countries concerned or Article 14 of the “Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the Member States of the European Union” (MLA Convention)
• Details are laid down in a contract that they name “Memorandum of Understanding” (MoU). The MoU is a European-wide standardised form. It defines e.g. powers, obligations like giving regular reports, communication with the handler and police of the host country
• In Germany, “tactical” sexual relations are a “reason of exclusion”. At another meeting, Ziercke explained that “tactical” sexual relations would „not go at all“
• All communication with foreign agents and German police authorities is usually done via his or her handler. Given that, the handler is always travelling with the crossborder snitch. This was maybe not always the case regarding Mark Kennedy and other undercover cops
• German police normally don’t know the real name of the undercover agent (“best kept secret”)
• Berlin State police sent 5 undercover cops to G8 2005 in Gleneagles. They were requested and then handled by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) and operated together with the Metropolitan Police (Please note that the German capital City of Berlin is also a State)
• NPOIU organises the missions of undercover cops “all over UK” and requested German undercover agents “e.g. for the mission in Gleneagles”
• Kennedy and other UK snitches were “brokered” by German Federal Investigation Bureau to State police forces for G8 and NATO in the German states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Baden-Wuerttemberg to operate in the “extreme left” political spectrum. These two German State police both made their own contracts with British police
• UK police created the threat that they presented the solution for: Before German State police requested Kennedy and other undercover agents from UK, the German Federal Investigation Bureau were given “specific hints” allegedly collected within the infiltrated “anarchist scene”. According to sources “also in UK” plannings of “serious crimes” (“schwerste Straftaten”) were going on in Germany
• Kennedys now officially explained mission was allegedly a “protection against threats”, there was no concrete investigation going on against any individuals – according to Ziercke.
• But we know e.g. from a current trial in Austria that this construction is used or needed to gather “evidence” for a formally totally different investigation
• The German Federal Investigation Bureau organised a common “action” with Berlin State government to create a trustworthy “legend” for Kennedy. Probably they mean the burning of a dumpster in December 2007, which he was detained for, investigated and accused
• This court case against Kennedy was later dropped by the payment of some smaller fine to the court. Kennedy did this process under the name “Mark Stone”, so neither Berlin police nor prosecutor nor judges knew that this was a false operation
• This is confirmed by Berlin police. It means, British or German police paid the bill at the court. Note: Burning dumpsters or cars is in Berlin highly criminalised since 2007 “militant campaign” after G8 2007
• According to the the German Federal Investigation Bureau, Kennedy has “not reported” anything from Berlin (which Kennedy himself contradicts in his Daily Mail interview)
• Emails were exchanged between German police and the Metropolitan Police and NPOIU
• There had been several information exchanges with British police authorities about the mission, where there “might have been” informations given that were collected in Berlin. The German Federal Investigation Bureau was not able to check where the information given by UK colleagues came from
• Ziercke states that it is “usual”, that cross-border agents travel before their missions to the countries were they will operate, to “show themselves” in the targeted scene. This would, according to Ziercke, explain what Kennedys visits to Berlin were for. They would not have had “mission character” and are allegedly carried without a “collecting of information”
• When Kennedy was at the G8 in Heiligendamm, he and his handler were alongside with a German police officer from the German Federal Investigation Bureau (it contradicts a German Federal Investigation Bureau claim to not have been involved in his mission)
• The German handler of Kennedy (and of course those of other agents) was inside the temporary headquarter for the G8 summit named “Kavala”. “Kavala” was responsible for all planning, intelligence, logistics, propaganda, mission of the summit.
• “Kavala” manipulated courts up to the highest constitutional court with wrong numbers of injured police at the opening demonstration (500 “heavily injured”) and spread false information allegedly acquired by undercover agents at the anti-G8 protest camps. Based on that, courts then decided to ban demonstrations, which had in this dimension not been seen before in Germany. The falsified information was proved by journalists to be untrue afterwards. Maybe UK agents helped to spread wrong rumours from the camps
• There had been more snitches in Germany at G8. Ziercke said, „two names, Boyling and Jacobs, are known already”. There would have been “three or four”, he does not know exactly
• Also the European Union police agency Europol knew about Mark Kennedy (as “Mark Stone”). Probably the missions were planned, coordinated and evaluated in the “European Cooperation Group on Undercover Acitvities” (ECG) that all 27 member states access with governmental police authorities. From Germany the German Federal Investigation Bureau takes part, from UK probably the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) or, most likely, their former special branch for undercover cops NPOIU

Source: email