UK Edition
Romanian investigators accuse British journalists of fabricating arms trading investigation
Romanian investigators have made a formal request for legal assistance from the UK in a criminal investigation into three British journalists from Sky News who ran a story on alleged gun running in the former communist country.
Authorities in Romania have accused the Britons of fabricating the story, which was broadcast on Sky News on August 7.
The three journalists, led by chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, purportedly met three masked arms smugglers who showed them an assortment of weapons destined, they claimed, for the black market.
But according to Romania’s Directorate for Combatting Terrorism and Organised Crime (DIICOT), the body investigating the Sky story, the journalists allegedly paid hunters to pose as mafia smugglers and to use their legally owned hunting weapons as examples of guns for sale.
Mihaela Porime, spokeswoman for the directorate, told The Telegraph the Britons had been charged with the crime of spreading false information to the detriment of national security, and that they had been in contact with British authorities.
“We have sent a letter [requesting assistance] and after that it depends on the British authorities when they call them in to answer the questions,” she said. “We think we have a good case.”
Sky supported Mr Ramsay, an award winning reporter who has covered conflicts around the globe, saying in a statement he “delivered a robust report on gun dealing in Romania and Sky News fully stands by the story.”
The company added that it was “aware of reports regarding the questioning of our team but have yet to receive anything official from Romania.”
In Romania investigators have arrested the three Romanians who appeared in the Sky story and recovered the weapons. DIICOT has said it believes the men were given about euro 1,000 to share between them and a script to the alleged storyline.
The Sky team travelled to Romania amid rising concern over the illegal arms trade in south-east Europe. The Balkans wars of the 1990s left thousands of illegal firearms in circulation, and there are fears some of them could fall into the hands of terrorists.