9:54am today

The Foreign Office has confirmed that police are investigating the sale of a digital camera on eBay said to have contained MI6 images of terror suspects.

A bidder, who bought the camera for £17 on the auction website, discovered photos of terror suspects, their names and fingerprints and even snaps of rocket launchers and missiles, The Sun newspaper reported.

The unsuspecting 28-year-old from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, only found the secret images when he downloaded his own holiday snaps from the Nikon Cool Pix device.

He told local police about the find and was shocked when Special Branch officers arrived at his home days later to seize his new purchase.

Officers have made five visits to his home in the last week to quiz him and his family, the paper reported.

A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire Police said: "We can confirm we seized a camera after a member of the public reported it. Intelligence officers are investigating."

The Foreign Office said: "We can confirm a police investigation is under way."

But the spokeswoman said she could not confirm or deny the intelligence service's involvement in the probe.

She refused to comment on reports that the camera was sold by an MI6 agent.

Among the images which are reported to have been found on the camera is a document, marked "top secret", which gives details of the encrypted computer system used by MI6's agents in the field.

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