Pubdate: Thu, 11 Jun 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Page: 10
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Contact:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author: Sandra Laville, crime correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)

METROPOLITAN POLICE OFFICERS FLUSHED MY HEAD IN TOILET, SAYS SUSPECT

Solicitors for Five Held in Drug Raids Allege Torture

Six Officers Face IPCC Over Waterboarding Claims

One of the victims of alleged torture by six Metropolitan police officers
claims his head was thrust down a toilet which was repeatedly flushed over
him as he was interrogated, the Guardian has learned.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating allegations
that the officers, all of whom worked for Edmonton CID, used water torture
on up to three suspects arrested last November on drug importation
charges.

One of those who claims he was maltreated is David Nwankwo. The
24-year-old, who is understood to be Nigerian-born, was arrested at a
house in Tottenham, north London, during drug raids on 4 November.

Nwankwo told a friend that officers thrust his head down a toilet in the
house as they questioned him, and repeatedly flushed water over his head.
He also claimed that when officers arrived at the house he was assaulted
and kicked several times.

Another suspect arrested at the house, Ajah Mpakaboari, 33, arrived at the
police station in Edmonton bloodstained and with visible signs of having
been assaulted, it is claimed.

A third suspect who was allegedly tortured was charged with assaulting a
police officer when he put up a struggle.

The water torture allegations were made by a fellow officer who told
superiors that suspects had their heads thrust into water while officers
demanded to know where drugs were hidden.

The whistleblower's claims led to a full inquiry by the Met's internal
investigations unit, the Department of Professional Standards, which began
late last year. In February this year 10 officers from Edmonton CID were
suspended. Eight remain suspended, including the six allegedly involved in
torture. The internal investigators have uncovered allegations that
detectives within the Edmonton crime unit stole property, fabricated
evidence and maltreated suspects.

The Met referred three cases to the IPCC, the most serious of which was
the torture allegation, which the police watchdog is investigating
independently.

The suspects involved have so far remained silent on what took place that
day. But the Guardian spoke today to solicitors acting for four of the
five.

One of the suspects, Victoria Sea -brook, told her lawyer that Mpakaboari
had arrived at the police station in Edmonton after his arrest with blood
on his clothes, looking like he had been beaten up.

"She told me that another of the suspects, David Nwankwo, whom she knows
as David, had told her that the officers pushed his head down the toilet
and flushed water over him during his arrest," said Shenel Johnson,
Seabrook's solicitor.

Seabrook and her boyfriend, Nicholas Oforka, who was also arrested on
November 4, have not made allegations of maltreatment.

The five arrested -- Seabrook, Nwankwo, Mpakaboari, Oforka and Bernasko
Adji -- were due to face trial in March on charges of importing cannabis.
But when they arrived at court the Crown Prosecution Service successfully
made a public interest immunity application. During two days of hearings
behind closed doors -- which police officers involved were barred from --
the CPS outlined the corruption allegations against the officers and said
it was dropping the drug case.

The CPS said todayit had done so because the trial -- and the allegations
of torture -- would have compromised a wide-ranging criminal inquiry into
the activities of a number of police officers.

The Met said it was treating the allegations extremely seriously and would
take the strongest possible action if such behaviour was found to be
substantiated. But there appear to have been attempts to play down the
issue. In March the borough commander in Enfield, Chief Superintendent
Adrian Hanstock, told a local newspaper that the investigation into his
officers was based on "mishandling and procedures aE& we're not talking
about Life on Mars-style corruption. This is about procedural compliance."

Yet a month later when referring the torture allegations to the IPCC, the
Met used the term "waterboarding". The torture technique involves
continuously running water over the head of a suspect to make them feel
like they are drowning.

All six officers, who include a detective sergeant, are to be questioned
as criminal suspects by investigators as part of the IPCC inquiry.

The wider investigation being carried out by the Met's internal
investigations department is continuing. It is understood that the
allegations include officers fabricating evidence and stealing property,
including flat screen televisions and iPods, seized from the homes of
suspects.

The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said the
allegations, if true, were "appalling and shocking".

A Metropolitan Police Authority member, Reshard Auladin, who works as a
magistrate in Enfield, said the claims were being "thoroughly
investigated". He said: "The authority is concerned about these
allegations and we are now looking towards the IPCC to finish the inquiry
and take whatever steps need to be taken."

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