Shock over PSNI officer seconded to Libya

Police chiefs in the North were criticised today after confirming that one of their officers has been sent to Tripoli to help train Libyan police.

He was one of a number of Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers seconded to the National Policing Improvement Agency and, according to a statement, travelled to Libya following a request from the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office for a “specifically skilled officer”.

The statement said: “A decision was taken to support this request.”

But with the Libyan government facing demands for compensation for relatives of IRA victims killed by Semtex explosives supplied by Colonel Gaddafi’s regime, members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board said they were stunned.

They said they had not been informed of the decision.

Ulster Unionist Basil McCrea. who is also a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, said: “I am shocked. I cannot believe we have been sending officers over to a country which has been responsible for so much death and destruction.”

He added: “The board has a statutory responsibility to know where officers are going outside Northern Ireland, and it appears we were side-stepped. If they want to do it, then it should be open and transparent.”

It is understood the officer who travelled to Libya was a serving superintendent. Former Northern Ireland policemen are believed to have been involved in the training as well.

A spokesman for the policing board said: “The board received an application from the PSNI at the request of the National Police Improvement Agency in December 2008 for a short-term secondment of an officer to Libya.

“Under Section 8 of the Police (NI) Act 2000, such secondments outside the UK require the consent of the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State gave consent for the secondment on January 7 2009.”