Activist infiltrator outed in UK

When former Oxford student "Ken Tobias" volunteered in July to help direct action-oriented environmental group Plane Stupid, he was accepted with only a few reservations. He seemed committed to the cause of reducing aviation emissions, but as members of the group which occupied the roof of parliament last month recalled: "There was something not quite right about him." In retrospect, it is easy to see why. On Apr. 8, Tobias was exposed as Toby Kendall, a corporate spy who works as "an analyst" for C2-i International, the UK's premier "special risk management" and investigation company. He was also accused of acting as an agent provocateur, and planting stories to discredit activists. Heathrow airport owner, BAA, a target for Plane Stupid protests, confirmed C2i had offered its services in an unsolicited approach but it turned it down. Suspicions were raised because he always turned up first to meetings, always pushed for direct action and dressed too well, activists said. Suspicions were again raised after identity checks. "Although Ken lived in London, he wasn't on the electoral register, nor on the records of the rugby team he claimed to have played for," said one activist who identified himself as Graham. The real activists fed Ken false information about direct action, and within days they heard that UK airport security had been alerted. Moreover, the content and locations of meetings Ken attended appeared in the Evening Standard. "He was always trying to up the ante," said Graham. "I remember him saying we should block the escalators at the T5 opening and make complete and utter nuisances of ourselves. This appeared in the Standard almost verbatim." Activists confronted him in a Japanese restaurant in north London. "We asked him if he was a spy and if he could produce a passport. He denied everything, claiming he'd lost his wallet and had no photo ID. We secretly recorded the meeting and took a photo of him leaving to show other groups -- but still had no concrete evidence of who he was working for." The activists remembered his supposed Oxford connection and showed a friend there his photograph. He immediately recognized Ken as Toby Kendall, an Oriental Studies student from Wadham College. A quick Google search then revealed a Bebo page with a photo revealing Kendall was 24 and liked war and revenge movies, and a link to a corporate networking site, where "Ken" claimed to be an analyst at C2i International, working in "security and investigations." "For awhile we were happy to have him in the group, knowing he was a mole," said Graham. But eventually Ken's fellow activists said they had to get rid of him. "He was actually rather stupid," said another activist. "He left this trail which was easy to follow." Mystery surrounds who Kendall was working for. BAA denied it had hired him but admitted C2i had pitched its services and had been turned down, although it declined to confirm whether Kendall was mentioned as part of the approach. "We are far more interested in engaging with the real environmental issues, not getting involved in James Bond-style tactics," said a BAA spokesman. C2i has also stated Kendall was operating on his own and his infiltration of Plane Stupid was not sanctioned. The Department for Transport has denied any involvement with C2i. Flying Matters, the aviation industry body set up as a rapid rebuttal unit against environmentalists, said that hiring Kendall would be a "ridiculously disproportionate" response. "It's not the sort of thing we would do," said Michelle Di Leo, Flying Matters director. British Airways declined to comment on Kendall and refused to confirm or deny whether it paid someone to observe the group. "We never discuss detailed matters of security in public," said BA. One industry source said the government would be the most likely organization to pay for a snooping operation: "Plane Stupid are people who, for very noble causes, would be willing to cut through airport fences and run on to runways. I would not be at all surprised if central government had its spooks crawling all over them."