Brit spies ‘recruiting Chinese whistleblowers on dark web’ for intel on fears Covid leaked from Wuhan lab
BRITISH intelligence are recruiting Chinese whistleblowers on the dark web over fears Covid leaked from the Wuhan lab, according to reports.
UK operatives are now investigating a potential virus escape from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) as a bombshell report claimed yesterday the virus may have been "engineered".
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Western spooks are believed to have few human intelligence sources in China.
It is reported gathering data has been focused on trying to recruit whistleblowers on the dark web.
The dark web - the shadowy underbelly of the internet - allows Chinese sources to share secrets without fears of being caught by the Communist Party.
It comes after it emerged yesterday Brit spies are helping their US counterparts in the mounting probe.
"There might be pockets of evidence that take us one way, and evidence that takes us another way." a source said.
"The Chinese will lie either way. I don't think we will ever know."
And US sources added there are serious concerns that if the origin of the virus cannot be identified there could be another pandemic.
"This could happen again and we are one wet market or bio lab away from the next spillover," one said.
British MPs are continuing to demand a fresh investigation, after first calling for one when speaking to The Sun Online back in January.
Tin Tugendhat MP, chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, said: "The silence coming from Wuhan is troubling.
"We need to open the crypt and see what happened to be able to protect ourselves in the future.
"That means starting an investigation, along with partners around the world and in the WHO."
It also emerged last week that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been briefed on the possibility of a Wuhan lab leak as early as April 2020.
The study was designed to show the risk of viruses carried by bats which could be transmitted to humans.
There is no suggestion the facility's 2015 work is linked to the pandemic and the facility denies the lab leak claims.
The lab was also recruiting new scientists to probe coronaviruses in bats just seven days before the outbreak.
A senior Whitehall source told that British officials are working with the new US probe into the killer outbreak.
They said: "We are contributing what intelligence we have on Wuhan, as well as offering to help the American to corroborate and analyse any intelligence they have that we can assist with.
"What is required to establish the truth behind the coronavirus outbreak is well-sourced intelligence rather than informed analysis, and that is difficult to come by."
WIV specialises in bat coronaviruses - and is located just a stones throw from the Huannan Seafood Market, where the virus was first found.
Studies show that one of the viruses collected by the lab's scientists from a mine is a 96.2 per cent match for SARS-CoV-2 which causes Covid-19.
The virus originated from the anus of a horseshoe bat.
SECRET ORIGIN
According to reports, four teams collected samples in the cave after miners working there fell ill in 2012.
The Chinese scientists reportedly found nine viruses in the mine which were sent to the WIV.
Britain and the US have both been critical of the probe carried out by the World Health Organisation which dismissed the lab leak theory.
It has since been claimed that Beijing withheld data and samples from WHO investigators during their visit to Wuhan in January.
This month, 18 of the world's top scientists wrote a letter published in the journal Science calling an independent inquiry into the leak claims.
This week it emerged that three Wuhan lab staff became sick and needed hospital care weeks before China disclosed the virus outbreak to the world.
Citing a bombshell US intelligence report, the Wall Street Journal said the dossier revealed fresh details on the number of researchers affected.
It also shows the timing of their illnesses and their hospital visits in November 2019, when China officially detected the outbreak.
Meanwhile, Dr Anthony Fauci recently admitted he was "not convinced" Covid developed naturally.
At an event last week, journalist Katie Sanders asked Fauci: "There’s a lot of cloudiness around the origins of Covid-19 still, so I wanted to ask, are you still confident that it developed naturally?"
America's top infectious disease expert responded: "No, actually. I am not convinced about that.
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"I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened."
More than 3.51 million people have died from Covid-19 worldwide — making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history.