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the arrival of Lend-Lease supplies in Basra, where he operated his own
private espionage network. His chief operative was a business agent named
Taha Nuri, who sent Yusuf intelligence product by means of encrypted
messages interpolated into ordinary business correspondence. Yusuf also
appeared to have other intelligence sources in northern Iraq. In other
words, he was operating in the two highest-priority regions secured by
CICI: Kurdistan and the Persian Gulf. He was therefore seen as a signifi-
cant threat.
Fikri wrote his letters in secret ink under an ordinary cover letter, while
Yusuf ’s letters were written on the insides of newspaper wrappers. Both
agents received their instructions from Turkey in secret writing on ordi-
nary cover letters apparently written by the same person. Both Fikri’s let-
ters and the instructions that both men received from Turkey showed a
very high standard of technical ability. Letters written by Yusuf, on the
other hand, were barely competent. As usual, DSO Iraq patiently took
their time to build up a picture of the organization, while intercepting all
correspondence and if necessary deleting any highly sensitive information
before releasing it to the mails. For some weeks, however, DSO failed to
intercept any messages from either Fikri or Yusuf. They knew that Fikri,
after a lengthy tour of northern Iraq, had crossed illegally into Turkey, so
it seemed plausible that, suspecting he was under surveillance, he had sus-
pended his activities. However, DSO had reason to believe that Yusuf was
continuing to send his material to Turkey by means unknown to them. He
was still receiving intelligence from Basra; intercepted letters from relatives
confirmed the receipt of items from him. Though unable to apprehend
Fikri, DSO had Yusuf and Nuri arrested on 23 July 1944. When Fikri’s
house in Shahraban was raided the following day, conclusive proof was
found there that Fikri had been using secret writing materials. Faced with
an overwhelming accumulation of evidence against them, Yusuf admitted
both his and Nuri’s guilt.
Notwithstanding the success of the arrests and house searches, the
question remained of who had been controlling these agents. In admitting
his guilt, Yusuf insisted that he was working to benefit a group of Turks
with ancien régime sympathies (presumably with German support). It was
noticed, for instance, that swastikas had been scratched on the walls of his
hall and stairway. Furthermore, it was still not known for sure whether
Fikri and Yusuf worked together or even knew each other. But the num-
bering and source of the Turkish cheques with which they were both paid,
together with the identical handwriting of their contacts in Turkey,
A PLACE IN THE SHADE