“The time has come,” the walrus said. “to talk of many things…” (Lewis Carroll (1872) - Through the Looking Glass: and what Alice found there.)
Throughout these blogs identifiable features will be changed to protect the people involved – no matter how culpable they may be.
This particular job presented its own unique set of challenges. The target lived on the 13th floor of a tower block in a busy city. The tower block itself being entry controlled and heavily CCTV’d.
On the positive side, he’d just swindled £4.5m out of an insurance company and was making plans to live his best life!
Something wasn’t quite ringing true for our client though.
The initial integrity to the claim was never in question. The young man had been involved in an accident as the passenger in a car and had sustained injuries, this was not disputed.
It was the extent and duration of those injuries that seemed a little odd – asymmetrical paralysis and complex post trauma – in an accident at less than 30 mph from which everyone else had walked away unscathed?
That’s where we come in.
Our client tasked us to check the veracity of the injuries and the subject’s ability to function in an everyday environment.
The first challenge came gaining entry to the flats. The resident caretaker took his job very seriously – as one would hope – and wasn’t going to let any Tom, Dick, or private investigator just meander into his ivory tower. Just Eat delivery riders however seemed to have a free pass at any time of day or night!
Cue a bit of subterfuge and leftover pizza.
Once inside the block the difficulties of ‘triggering’ the surveillance became apparent. The communal areas were sparse and very clean – the caretaker was incredibly diligent and proud of his environment. Anything unusual or out of place would be picked up immediately – probably quite literally.
I selected our most appropriate piece of kit and made my way up to the 13th floor in the lift. It was still very (very!) early in the morning – possibly porridge may have been a better ruse than pizza – so I would likely have the corridor to myself for at least a few seconds.
I checked the magnet on the kit. It was incredibly strong and had attached itself to everything movable and metal in both my jacket and trouser pocket. This was oddly reassuring as the kit was quite heavy and needed to remain in place for a number of days to do its job.
I left the lift and did an initial walkthrough of the corridor, stopping on the stairs at the far end of the corridor. Although well lit, the building was quiet except for the occasional insomniac or Deliveroo rider.
Turning the kit on I waited a few seconds for the lights to go green and then extinguish – all was well. To a casual onlooker I would look like an inhabitant of the block come out on to the stairs for a fag, but dig a bit deeper and the veneer of locality would soon evaporate.
This next bit was the most dangerous and most likely to get me caught. Whilst not as dangerous as some of the jobs we’ve done, it could ruin the plan and destroy the entire operation before it got going.
I put the device back in my pocket and casually wondered back down the corridor, making sure the fire doors didn’t bang closed behind me, I passed the suspect’s flat on my right-hand side, taking my right hand out of my pocket as I did so. I caught sight of where the device was going to be placed and kept my focus on the metal beam as I strode toward it. Casually, but purposefully I reached up and heard the reassuring click as the magnet engaged with the metal beam. I waited for any further noise, but there was none. The device held and was now securely in place for the duration of the operation.
I continued along the corridor, using the stairs to exit on to the floor below – the lifts made a loud ‘ding’ whenever they stopped at a floor, and I wanted to prevent floor 13 suddenly turning into a pinball machine.
The waiting game ensued.
In rotation we took ‘trigger’ – taking turns to monitor the device every time it activated, whilst the other members of the team rotated to grab coffee and a loo stop.
It seems that £4.5m ensures a good night’s sleep, as it was close to midday before anyone emerged from the flat.
At first, I thought we had caught our subject on moving day, bag after bag came out of the flat. It took several lift journey’s for the car to be fully loaded, by which time the entire team were primed and ready.
“Standy, standby. That is Alpha 1 complete Charlie 1” came the transmission. Here we go!
I complete a mental check list of where everything I need is – microphone accessible in the car, backpack ready with cameras and batteries should I need to leave the car quickly, phone on its stand and accessible during the journey. I know a similar process is being repeated in several cars nearby.
“That is Charlie 1 manoeuvring in the car park……. and we are off, off. Charlie 1 is away and left, left toward the exit”
There is a pause. It is a few seconds, but feels much longer, then the reassuring click of a microphone chimes in “Golf has”.
What follows next is an elaborate chorography of observation interspersed with skilful and well disguised driving. All our team are ex-security services and police surveillance, so this type of driving is second nature to them. It still fills me with awe to watch how effortlessly they ply their trade amongst the hubbub of people’s normal daily routine, fitting in seamlessly to whichever environment they are dropped in but operating with the stealth and purpose of a mountain lion.
We stop at so many places in the city I being to wonder whether the subject might actually be a drug dealer. Random stops with seemingly no rhyme nor reason.
This pattern of behaviour tests the team fully. There are some very difficult places requiring the team to quickly adapt and improvise. These are the most dangerous times for a ‘loss’ of the subject.
Finally, we drop on to the ring road back toward Alpha 1’s home address. Except we don’t pull off at their junction, we keep going – and going- and going. I joking enquire of the team “I hope you’ve got your passports?”. Except that it’s not really a joke, it is a serious consideration in my mind that we are heading for a ferry and then on to the continent. It wont matter to the team, they have got their passports and they wont miss a beat.
This is CM doing what we do best as a company, and it is a privilege to watch and be part of.
At the last minute there is a sudden right turn and we drop into the countryside. Motorway and fast road giving way to narrow country lanes and sharp bends. Just when we are about top run out of road, we perform a sharp right turn into a holiday camp.
We have arrived. Let the fun and games begin!
Comments