Olympics are terrorists dream - reporter

The Olympic Games in Greece are a “terrorists’ dream come true”, it was claimed today.

An undercover reporter has been able to get a job “at the heart of the Games” and plant three “suspicious items” that resembled components to make bomb.

Despite a massive £1bn (€1.5bn) security operation the journalist managed to secure a driving job five weeks ago with a British contractor without references or a formal interview.

At Friday’s spectacular opening ceremony in Athens the reporter was able to stand within 60 feet of dozens of heads of state, including Prime Minister Tony Blair, a newspaper said.

The Sunday Mirror’s Bob Graham said he left packages containing slabs of grey Plasticine, batteries, coils of wire and electrical tape in various locations, including inside a sandwich container, in the main Olympic stadium.

He said none of the packages was detected despite a major “security” lockdown and searches by the Greek army.

Identity checks which would have exposed him as a journalist were never carried out and the reporter was able to wander around the site with passes in the names of “Michael Mouse” and “Robert bin Laden” around his neck, he said.

Bob Graham said: “When security was supposed to be at its tightest, I regularly drove a nine-seater mini van, conveniently provided by an Olympic sponsor, on and off the site to get supplies of ice to chill drinks for the workers, performers and volunteers.

“When I returned with upwards of 60 large bags of ice, the contents of the van were never properly searched.

“I could have picked up anything. It could have contained any number of explosives.”

He added: “Security is absolutely disgraceful. The Games are a terrorists’ dream come true.

“Given assurances from the authorities and the resources available, it is a scandal on an Olympic scale.”