LONDON: The British secret service MI5 planned to bug the London embassy of one of Britain’s allies in the so-called “war on terror”, it was disclosed on Sunday.

The agency was approached by a man in charge of restoring the embassy in a project which began in 2001, according to a report in the London-based Sunday Times newspaper.

The man’s initial approach to MI5 met with no response so he went to the CIA, who suggested he contact Scotland Yard’s anti- terrorist branch, according to the report.

Eventually, MI5 recruited the man, gave him the codename ‘Notation’, and allegedly asked him to bug the embassy and take confidential documents.

It also allegedly planned to take away confidential documents on the pretext that they would be destroyed by a reputable waste disposal company.

However, unknown to MI5, the agent had once been sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He refused to go ahead with the operation, and claimed his MI5 handlers had bungled it.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.