06-01-11 Spy chief lured to UK for arrest

Mongolia's spy chief claims he was tricked into making an official visit to Britain so he could be arrested for kidnapping.Bat Khurts arrived in London believing he would be attending high-level talks on Muslim fundamentalism.But he was arrested at London's Heathrow airport,at the request of the German authorities,over claims he was involved in the kidnapping of a Mongolian refugee suspected of murdering a government minister.Mr Khurts,the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council,has spent the past four months in prison and was due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates Court overnight to fight his extradition.Duncan MacDonald,his solicitor,accused the Foreign Office yesterday of "duplicitously luring Mr Khurts to his arrest and imprisonment at the behest of the German government".The spy believed he had been invited to London in September last year for talks with Peter Ricketts,British Prime Minister David Cameron's national security adviser,and William Nye,his strategy and counter-terrorism director,after almost a year of negotiations.Mr Khurts said Britain issued a visa for the visit knowing there was a European arrest warrant against him that dated to 2003,and of which he was unaware.Court documents show that the Foreign Office contacted the Serious and Organised Crime Agency about the visit and provided Mr Khurts's flight details just a day after the British ambassador in Ulan Bator offered to assist in arranging the meetings.The warrant relates to the kidnap,false imprisonment and repatriation of Damiran Enkhbat,who was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of Zorig Sanjaassuren,the Mongolian infrastructure minister,in 1998.Mongolia's Justice Minister has written to the Foreign Office demanding Mr Khurts's release.A Foreign Office official said the government could not interfere in the legal process after receiving the request from German authorities.