Classified Ministry of Defence documents containing details for a Royal Navy operation which sparked a dispute with Russia last week have been discovered at a bus stop in Kent.
The trove of papers, which runs to almost 50 pages, were found by a member of the public last week who passed them to the BBC. The MoD has confirmed that the loss of the documents was reported at the time by an employee and that the department has now launched an investigation into the security breach.
The discovery comes at a time when UK military operations are under particular scrutiny. A British destroyer, HMS Defender, passed through disputed waters off the Crimea coast on Wednesday, prompting a backlash from Moscow.