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Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command has begun a criminal investigation following the seizure of thousands of documents found in the possession David Miranda, the partner of a Guardian journalist.
Mr Miranda was held for nine hours last Sunday in Heathrow en route to Rio de Janeiro where he lives with Glenn Greenwald, who has reported on the intelligence material seized from the US National Security Agency by Edward Snowden.
The decision to launch a formal investigation followed a court order today limiting the examination of the material Mr Miranda was holding.
The interim order directed the Government and the police not to “inspect, copy or share” data from a computer and storage devices that were taken from the Brazilian during his questioning. However it accepted examination could be allowed if it was “for the purposes of protecting national security”.
A Scotland Yard statement said police had found “thousands of classified intelligence documents” and said their investigation would “protect life and national security”.