THE SECURITY lapse which allowed anti-terrorist training video tapes to be sold at a car boot sale is indefensible.

We do not think that shadow defence minister David Clark was overstating the case when he condemned the lapse as "incompetence bordering on treachery".

We do not know how many tapes have been circulating nor in what circles. But the tapes, showing soldiers on military exercises at the main Army training station in Northern Ireland, go into much detail about such essentials as how to combat snipers and deal with explosive devices.

A major investigation has already started about how the tapes came to be sold. The security gap must be identified quickly and plugged - the lives of British soldiers are at risk.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.