Newcastle supporter Mike Gabbard was on his way to a football match when he stumbled upon a black bin bag. Out of the bag stuck bundles of papers – some of them marked with the words "OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE".
I looked down and started seeing names and numbers on the papers, and thought: "What is this?" says Gabbard to the radio.
Several of the documents were torn into pieces. According to BBC, they contained information about soldiers' ranks, email addresses, military shifts and weapon issues, as well as information about military installations.
The power and scale of this are quite large – it's not just a blunder, says security analyst Gary Hibberd to AFP.
This will be investigated at the highest military level.
The Ministry of Defence in London says it has launched an investigation into the incident. Appropriate measures will be taken, says a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
This is not the first time classified or sensitive British documents have gone astray. In 2008, intelligence documents were found in a folder marked "top secret" on a train seat in London, and in 2021, several classified defence documents were found behind a bus stop in southeastern England.
