Covert plan at Ecuadorian Embassy strengthened after removing dedicated guards (Assange)

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
From June 2012 until now it has cost around £12 million.

£12 Million spent on one man over a period of 40 months, equates to £300,000 per month. That's a fair old wedge being spent by a country that can no longer afford £1,200 per year for families on a low wage.

Meanwhile a whole den of pedophiles in Westminster and the BBC are walking around free. .....

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Perhaps Cameron should encourage my James Bond style escape as I suggested, give the Ecuador government a nod and a wink to go for it. Would save a bit of cash for The Met.

With the UK all signed up to international diplomatic relations/embassy/immunity rules, he could argue that there was nothing he could legally do without risking the safety of UK diplomats abroad if a precedence was set by police breaking into diplomatic cars etc.

...then Ecuador becomes a rogue state and US/UK starts bombing them for their oil and banana's?

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978
From June 2012 until now it has cost around £12 million.

£12 Million spent on one man over a period of 40 months, equates to £300,000 per month. That's a fair old wedge being spent by a country that can no longer afford £1,200 per year for families on a low wage.

Meanwhile a whole den of pedophiles in Westminster and the BBC are walking around free. .....

Haven't you heard? It was all made up by a guy off his face on drugs.

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Perhaps Cameron should encourage my James Bond style escape as I suggested, give the Ecuador government a nod and a wink to go for it. Would save a bit of cash for The Met.

With the UK all signed up to international diplomatic relations/embassy/immunity rules, he could argue that there was nothing he could legally do without risking the safety of UK diplomats abroad if a precedence was set by police breaking into diplomatic cars etc.

...then Ecuador becomes a rogue state and US/UK starts bombing them for their oil and banana's?

Ha ha, I like your plan and would pay good money to watch it, if it is ever made into movie. Maybe you should start pitching it to some hotshot Hollywood producers?

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

Haha!

It's all a bit like a spy film in real life though, is this maybe the longest time someone has taken sanctuary, holed up in an embassy in the center of London? I wonder what the truth is, and it's certainly at high levels that I'd hide in that embassy if I was Assange, for sure.

a reply to: grainofsand
Like Ecuador has ever been the lynchpin in any James Bond spy flick lol..

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: grainofsand
Like Ecuador has ever been the lynchpin in any James Bond spy flick lol..

Lol, maybe they've just found themselves in a 'real life' one and are right now playing a massive chess game with an extra pawn?

a reply to: grainofsand

That would be like the Secretary of Agriculture saying should the 17 other members of the cabinet die I'm ready to assume leadership.

is it a possibility - sure.

in reality would it occur - If we answer yes then there are more important things that are going to be taking precedence.

a reply to: Xcathdra

Who knows what Ecuador may or may not have?
This is after all the longest period of time I'm imagining we're all aware of with someone holing themselves up in an embassy in central London.

Ecuador must have a decent card they are playing (Assange) if only because it has dragged on so long...and I wonder what they are bargaining for. This story is massive to me if only because Ecuador have sheltered him in their embassy for so long in central London, in Cameron's face.

a reply to: grainofsand

From what I have seen the only reason they are doing it is so they can stick it to the US/UK. His asylum was granted at a time when we were having issues with their government.

a reply to: Xcathdra

What 'we' see means nothing
...I'd love to be a fly on a few walls!

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: TrueBrit

Similar thoughts crossed my mind as well.
I was also wondering what the deal is with diplomatic cars these days, does Assange just need to get his arse into one of Ecuador's parked at the front door, then a jet at a private airfield or something?

Getting out of the embassy is one thing, but getting out of the UK quite another

Cars aren't sovereign territory. Documents are usually free from search and seizure but there's no guarantee of that. If the person in the car is believed to not be the diplomat they can also be stopped, detained, and apprehended until proven otherwise.

Mail from the embassy could be searched so Assange couldn't be mailed out of the embassy or something either.

originally posted by: grainofsand
I note Ecuador has a C-130 Hercules in it's air force, so here's a plan, just for the chuckle:

Somehow get permission for a 'delivery' from Ecuador in the C-130 to London Biggin Hill private airport, which can take 737's/Airbus', and let it sit there with the tail open and a flight window arranged.
Drive a car with a large sunroof window underneath the balcony Assange speaks from, he drops in, they hoof it to the Hercules, drive straight in, and commence take-off.

It doesn't work. When they cross the Atlantic they'll be in international airspace and could be forced down by the USAF. Remember when they tried to do the same to Snowden who wasn't even on the plane?

a reply to: Aazadan

You got a linked source to UK law to support your assertions please?
Previous linked sources in this thread say otherwise, and I've found my own sources to support them since.
...I'm interested in reading where you got that from, I assume it was not just opinion asserted as fact?

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: grainofsand
I note Ecuador has a C-130 Hercules in it's air force, so here's a plan, just for the chuckle:

Somehow get permission for a 'delivery' from Ecuador in the C-130 to London Biggin Hill private airport, which can take 737's/Airbus', and let it sit there with the tail open and a flight window arranged.
Drive a car with a large sunroof window underneath the balcony Assange speaks from, he drops in, they hoof it to the Hercules, drive straight in, and commence take-off.

It doesn't work. When they cross the Atlantic they'll be in international airspace and could be forced down by the USAF. Remember when they tried to do the same to Snowden who wasn't even on the plane?

My post was 'tongue in cheek' if you hadn't noticed, but your speculation that USAF would do them over the Atlantic is interesting, although mildly annoying that you present it as fact.

For those interested -

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations - 1961

a reply to: Xcathdra

Yep, can't set a precedent breaking those diplomatic conventions by ordering UK police to enter a diplomatic vehicle.
The Ecuadorians must have a strong hand lol, I'd love to see the Bond movie about it, none of us would believe it!

In my opinion, they only pulled off the visible police. Theres probably still a bunch of undercovers waiting to feel his collar when he transitions from embassy to car, or from car to aircraft, and the act of pulling the uniformed bobbies (bobbies being UK slang for Police) off, is to make him feel safer, and hope he makes a mistake.

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Aazadan

You got a linked source to UK law to support your assertions please?
Previous linked sources in this thread say otherwise, and I've found my own sources to support them since.
...I'm interested in reading where you got that from, I assume it was not just opinion asserted as fact?

It's possible I'm mistaken, contrary to what is apparently my tone while writing I don't know everything. I am however going off of some papers I've read on diplomatic immunity which has a few very rarely used loopholes in it. One of the main ones being that if it's highly likely a member of their vehicle doesn't have immunity, they can be pulled over and that person detained.

In the case of a package, a package itself can't be inspected but assurances can be taken that what's claimed to be in transport is in transport. You can't have a box big enough for a person with the claim that it holds documents without some measures taken that it actually is holding documents (though it can't be opened up and inspected to determine if that's the case). For example if the weight or packing is off.

All of this qualifies under extraordinary circumstances though (as Assange's case would likely be), for the most part nations go out of their way to not hassle diplomats, and honestly it's questionable if the UK would in this situation, while Assange is high profile the crimes in question are pretty minor. Certainly not worth sparking a major diplomatic incident over.

a reply to: grainofsand

I saw a documentary about Assange, and from what I understand even those closest to him who were part of WikiLeaks, that Der Spiegel guy especially, say that Julian is completely paranoid and deluded and thinks of himself as a type of rockstar. It's hard to say, though, if those women he had sex with were or were not intelligence plants trying to set him up. But many think he made a mountain out of a mole hill about all of it.

Either way, I get the impression he has been busy doing covert online stuff all along anyways. But I also heard he was having very serious health problems...