London - A laptop computer containing sensitive data on Northern Ireland has been stolen from an MI5 intelligence agent, it emerged last night. The £2,000 computer, carrying heavily encrypted information, was snatched from the agent as he stopped to help a passer-by at Paddington Underground station in central London.
Special Branch officers were last night working to recover the sensitive equipment. Sources denied the theft represented a serious threat to national security, claiming it appeared to be "a spur of the moment theft".