Plod pounce's .. Polonium plot to be exposed ....?

There is huge relief in the fear factory, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, of Scotland Yard's Terrorism Department is on the job.... according to a report in the Sunday Torygraph..."focussing on when, where and how Mr Litvinenko received the lethal dose of polonium 210."

You can sense the Rolls Royce minds of the Met at work on this one....there is more, as the challenging intellect of Peter "The Sphinx" Clarke addresses the problem ....lights his pipe, picks up his violin maybe....

"We will trace possible witnesses, examine Mr Litvinenko's movements at relevant times, including when he first became ill, and identify people he may have met. There will also be an extensive examination of CCTV footage."

Well, cannot fault him there ... but CCTV ? Hundreds, nay thousands of hours looking for the 7/7 bombers and we have one dodgy still ? ( ..and lots of overtime Sarge. Luvvly jubbly) ...... Lord Patel's confidence is ebbing away. Already.

The urgent need to fly to Italy to interview the Italian spaghetti munchers must be forming in the recessses of the mind of London's finest, our bulwark against ... er ... world terrism ? (See pic of the indefatigable detective with his lunch box).

Plod might like to pursue these interesting titbits. Mr Litvinenko (now a British citizen) lives on one side of the road, with his wife and son (who joined him via Turkey) opposite is Akhmed Zakayev, who was one deputy prime minister of Chechnya and he like BB has been granted political asylum here.

Companies registered in the British Virgin islands associated with Mr Berezovsky are shown onthe Land Registry as owning both houses.

Plod might wish to cast his eyes over the current news from Chechyna - always assuming he can find it.

PS Paul William Hampel was arrested by border security officers at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport last week, carrying $7,800 in five currencies, several cellphones and a shortwave radio. The Canadian Security Intelligence Agency seek to deport him as they allege he is agent with the SVR and has lived in Canada for more than a decade under a false identity and that he used a fraudulent Ontario birth certificate to get three Canadian passports. He will appear in court again on Tuesday. A national security certificate has been issued which provides for his immediate deportation.

He travelled frequently to the Balkans and produced a book of photographs "My Beautiful Balkans" which can be seen here.They are very good.

This has echoes a case over 10 years ago when a married couple in Toronto ,known as Ian Mackenzie Lambert and Laurie Brodie were discovered to be Russian spies named Dmitriy Vladimirovoch Olshevskiy and Yelena Borisovna Olshevskaya.

The real Laurie Catherine Mary Brodie was born in Quebec on Sept. 8, 1963, and died in Toronto before her second birthday, Canada's Security Intelligence Service said.

Her (then) husband called himself Ian Mackenzie Lambert, the name of an Ontario child who died Feb. 17, 1966, before he was three months old.

In a curious twist to the story the Russian lady in the case married Canadian doctor Peter Miller in December 1996 and applied to return to Canada in August this year, claiming to have quit the spy agency in October 1996. She was refused.

She had met the British-born doctor and Oxford graduate who worked in Canada's medical insurance industry, at a scotch-tasting party before her deportation. Her (new) husband has tried to have the attractive spouse imported for several years. With no success.