ISLAMABAD: Britain’s defence ministry launched an urgent investigation after a football fan stumbled upon piles of sensitive military documents scattered across a street in northern England.
Newcastle United supporter Mike Gibbard was on his way to a match on March 16 when he noticed the papers spilling out of a black bin bag. Speaking to BBC Radio Newcastle, he described how the documents were “spread all the way up the road.”
“I peered down and started to see names on bits of paper and numbers, and thought, ‘what’s that?’” Gibbard recalled.
According to the BBC, the documents contained sensitive information, including soldiers’ ranks, shift patterns, weapon issue records, and emails. Some papers were marked “OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE,” with one referencing “armoury keys and hold IDS codes,” indicating potential links to an intruder detection system. Several documents appeared connected to the Catterick army garrison, Britain’s largest military base.
Security expert Gary Hibberd warned that the breach could have serious implications. “The impact and scale of this is quite big – it’s not just a blunder,” he told AFP. “This will be investigated at the highest levels of the military.”
In response, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed an internal investigation was underway, stating, “We are looking into this urgently.” The spokesperson also acknowledged that the documents had been handed over to the police.
Northumbria Police, who were alerted to the discovery in the Scotswood district, later transferred the papers to the defence ministry.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured that “appropriate action will be taken” in response to the potential security breach.
UK government guidelines mandate that sensitive documents must be incinerated, pulped, or shredded. However, classified materials have occasionally surfaced in unexpected places, such as in 2008 when a British civil servant left a “Top Secret” folder on a train seat in London.
