They risk falling into traps & being executed by fanatics
SEARCH lated to a high priority after a tip-off that he was acting erratically and aggressively.
That, combined with the fear he would act on previous threats to launch a terror attack, meant he became one of the roughly 20 top targets being rigorously tracked.
A security source said: “It is clear that at least one military adviser was on the scene at the time.
“This is a highly sensitive area for counter-terror police and MI5 because of the implications of having military personnel on UK streets, as happened in Northern Ireland.
“But there is a long-standing arrangement, albeit very secretive, between the police and British special forces that soldiers embed in the police force and sometimes take part in operations. “They have proven to be invaluable on the ground as advisers, especially in such a high-intensity situation as the operation against Sudesh Amman.”
The Mirror has learnt that despite having priority targets who are followed every day, some operations are being understaffed, as stretched resources are diverted to new alerts.
Last night the Ministry of Defence said: “We do not comment about special forces.”
Between 10 and 20 officers were involved on Sunday.
It is possible police added a specialist firearms unit to the team, although there are firearms-trained surveillance officers in the force.
They were probably wearing covert anti-stab body-armour vests. But sometimes even the most discreet ones cannot be used because they are too obvious. Surveillance officers work in shifts of roughly eight hours but these are flexible and can be timed to dovetail with the target’s movements and habits such as regular bedtimes and when they leave the house.
Amman was living at a nearby bail hostel, and is understood to have been wearing a GPS tag as well as being under a curfew.
MI5 has teams of specialist surveillance officers whose job it is to follow targets without being noticed – a high-pressure and difficult job, especially with someone like Amman.
Our insider told us: “Someone like Amman, who has just left prison and has probably been primed by other extremists, will be extremely paranoid about being followed.
“As well as for the obvious reason that he knows he is a deeply suspicious individual to MI5 and counterterror police, there may also be a vanity aspect. Often people imagine they are being followed without actually seeing the surveillance team.
“Surveillance officers become so good that they can blend in, observe and even predict which way someone will turn a long time before they do.
“They analyse certain ‘tells’ – their body language, the way they adjust the way they walk or alter how they are holding their bags. But they also have to be alert to being lured into a trap.
“Sometimes another team can be deployed to check if the followers are being followed, or if there is suspicious movement in the street that alerts them to an oncoming attack.”
It can take two years for a surveillance officer to be trained, with at least four months intense on-theground training, practising following targets in cities.
As well as tailing suspects, they are expected to observe things such as the way targets walk and the exact timings and locations of people they meet.
After each mission they write a report and file it to bosses. It has to be accurate as it may be used in court.
Techniques used by MI5 and police surveillance teams vary according to the target but it can employ all kinds of travel including by light aircraft.
Sources say it is possible Amman’s hostel room was not being filmed by a covert camera inside as this would have been difficult to get signed off by the Home Office.
The length of time he was under surveillance and the number of officers deployed to follow him after he left jail could have changed hourly.
MI5 and police are constantly assessing their main priorities. If they think an attack is imminent they may take officers away from other missions to provide back-up on the priority one.
All MI5 and police officers, especially armed police, are offered counselling following a traumatic incident, depending on how serious it was.