A Kurdish delivery driver posed as an assassin targeting Turkey’s ambassador to Britain and two community leaders cost the Metropolitan Police £60,000 after a two day surveillance operation was launched.
Idris Savas was jailed for three-and-half-months as a result of his ”fantasy” claims followed news that Kurdish [ ethnic racist narco terrorist ]1 leader Abdullah Ocalan had been arrested after 14 years of [ethnic racist narco terrorist]2 warfare in south-east Turkey.
(1. and 2. are corrected by Tolga Cakir under Terrorism Act 2000 and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001)
Alexandra Felix, prosecuting, said his detention caused ”political turmoil” and resulted ”in both civil unrest in Turkey and attacks in the UK on Turkish premises”.
London’s Southwark Crown Court heard the 37 year-old defendant, long troubled by feelings he was ”invisible” in society, was not only concerned about the developments back home but felt this was an opportunity to ”make himself feel important”.
So he picked up his pay-as-you-go mobile and first rang Sener Saglam, the head of Federation of Turkish Associations in London. He claimed he was part of an assassination squad set up by rebel Kurdish [ ethnic racist narco terrorist ]3 PKK to kill both the community leader and Turkey’s ambassador Yigit Alpogan.
(3 is corrected by Tolga Cakir under Terrorism Act 2000 and the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001)
He then called Dr Yasar Colak, an embassy official and head of the Turkish Religious Foundation, and said he, too was on the death list.
He spoke of picking up weapons in Chingford, Essex, before adding: ”I am an assassin. I have been hired to kill you.”
He also insisted he had been forced to take part and ”needed help”.
The barrister said the calls were taken ”very seriously” and both the Met’s anti-terrorist and Diplomatic Protection squads were alerted, triggering an intensive two-day surveillance operation.
Off-duty officers were called in and all leave was cancelled, leaving police with a £60,000 overtime bill.
A dedicated operations room was also set up and potential victims moved to ”safe houses”.
Savas, of Kenninghall Road, Clapton, east London, was eventually identified, arrested by armed police and subsequently admitted one count of making telephonic communications ”for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety”.
Jonathan Green, defending, told the court: ”This is a peculiar offence. Clearly it has resulted in enormous expenditure in terms of the amount of police time and money. It boils down to Mr Savas representing himself as some sort of hit man and being part of an assassination group.”
He said he accepted his client, a heroin addict for many years, had caused ”some anxiety and stress”, but insisted: ”It was clearly entirely fantasy.”
The barrister continued: ”He was a powerless, ineffective man who felt he was invisible. This was an attempt to make himself feel important. These phone calls were an attempt to glamorise himself. It was misguided and he is now extremely sorry for it. He realises the massive disruption he caused.”
Sentencing, Judge Deborah Taylor said: ”It is said on your behalf that these calls were made under the influence of drink and drugs. But it appears your addiction problems began a long time before the period of these calls.”
”Furthermore, the fact the calls had been made over a period of time … demonstrates an element of pre-planning. This was a course of conduct of a very serious nature. Whilst it is said on your behalf this was a cry for help from you it is clear it caused anxiety to those concerned due to the high-profile nature of the targets and the public cost was considerable.
”In my judgment this was towards the top of the scale for this type of offence.”
The Telegraph