An innocent photo enthusiast who was on a mission to take pictures for a camera club competition has inadvertently sparked a security alert outside Canary Wharf in London.<\/p>\n
AP reader Adrian Stretton, from Nottinghamshire, is the latest in a growing number of innocent photographers to be stopped and quizzed by police while taking pictures near ?landmark? sites in London amid terrorism fears.<\/p>\n
Tower Hamlets Police spokeswoman Zobaida Alam warned: ?Security around landmark sites such as Canary Wharf is very high in the current climate and we would urge members of the public to be patient and understanding to ensure security of the public.?<\/p>\n
Police stopped and questioned Adrian, 58, on 5 December after he was seen pointing his Nikon D70 digital SLR at buildings on the Canary Wharf site ? images which he was planning to enter into a ?cityscapes? competition for his local camera club.<\/p>\n
He had just emerged from Canary Wharf underground station when he was stopped by a police inspector who was on a counter-terrorism operation.<\/p>\n
?I had just come out and I got stopped immediately,? said Adrian who then noticed there were many other officers nearby.<\/p>\n
Adrian (pictured) said the inspector told him he was being stopped under the Terrorism Act 2000 and was asked to produce identification. Once satisfied with Adrian?s explanation he was not questioned further.<\/p>\n
Adrian ? who belongs to Warsop Camera Club in Mansfield – said the policeman issued him with a document which confirmed that he had been stopped by the Metropolitan Police who were ?patrolling a high-risk target area? as part of a ?bespoke counter-terrorism operation?, after he had been seen taking pictures of buildings in the area.<\/p>\n
In a similar case last month police swooped on amateur photographer Roy Jhuboo who said police suspected he could have been on a reconnaissance mission to launch a ‘rocket’ on nearby Canary Wharf. <\/p>\n
Jhuboo had been spotted taking pictures in Limehouse, east London and said police quizzed him for 20 minutes before letting him go. <\/p>\n
? For more on the latest drama see futures issues of AP. And keep an eye out for our News Review of the Year which appears in the bumper Christmas double issue of AP, due in shops tomorrow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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