The Commissioner of Police only learned that four Chinese Muslim detainees from Guantanamo Bay were relocating to Bermuda after they arrived.

George Jackson also revealed yesterday that a "preliminary threat assessment" of the men conducted the following day described them as "high risk".

In doing so, Mr. Jackson contradicted claims made to Parliament by Premier Ewart Brown that the former terrorist suspects were deemed to be "zero risk".

The Commissioner's statement slammed what he described as "unclear and inaccurate" reports on the topic. Government House issued a statement shortly afterwards, echoing the Commissioner's concerns.

The Opposition United Bermuda Party also weighed in, with leader Kim Swan saying: "It is clear the Premier misled the House of Assembly".

The four former prisoners, who are ethnic Uighurs, arrived in Bermuda last Thursday morning after an overnight flight from Cuba. Dr. Brown told the House of Assembly the following day that Mr. Jackson had done a security check on the men, stating: "Let me say that there is absolutely no report anywhere that concludes that Bermuda is at any kind of risk. As late as this afternoon, Bermuda's Commissioner of Police, having assessed these people, told Minister Burch that he considers that there is absolutely no security risk."

At a subsequent press conference, Dr. Brown reiterated: "Our Commissioner of Police has indicated that there is a zero security factor."

However, yesterday's statement from the Bermuda Police Service gave a drastically different picture. It said: "Reports in the public domain have been unclear and inaccurate as it relates to the Bermuda Police Service and the Commissioner's role in conducting an assessment of the Uighurs in Bermuda.

"The Commissioner of Police was made aware on Thursday morning, June 11, of the arrival of the Uighurs in Bermuda. On Friday morning, June 12, the Commissioner received a folder with unclassified information relating to the Uighurs.

"On receipt of the documents the Bermuda Police Service conducted a 'preliminary threat assessment'. Based on the limited information available, the overall threat assessment was deemed to be 'high'.

"This was conveyed to the Governor and Minister (of Labour Home Affairs and Housing) David Burch on Friday afternoon. Simultaneously, contact was made with our security agency partners and a more comprehensive threat assessment was commenced. This process is not yet complete.

"The public should not be unduly alarmed at the designation of 'high risk.' The status of 'high' has been arrived at largely because of the lack of specific information that has been made available. It is therefore not possible at this time to put any further context around the assessment until a number of questions have been answered."

An editor's note attached to the statement explained: "A comprehensive threat assessment is a multi-dimensional analysis of information across a range of risk factors which include but are not limited to public security and safety, terrorism risk, political risk both internal and external, reputational risk and business risk."

The four Chinese Muslims were admitted to Bermuda under the guest worker programme, having been confined in the US prison camp for seven years. They deny ever having been terrorists and have twice been cleared by the US of being enemy combatants. The US searched unsuccessfully for months for a country to take them before Bermuda agreed.

Governor Sir Richard Gozney said on Friday that he was "disappointed" the Premier did not consult Government House before the decision was made to allow the Uighurs to resettle here. Sir Richard was told the men were coming to Bermuda around 11 p.m. Wednesday night, moments after the plane left from Cuba. He believes that the move covers foreign policy and security issues for which the UK has responsibility, and the UK is now doing its own checks.

In a press release issued shortly after Mr. Jackson's yesterday afternoon, Sir Richard said: "Government House have discussed fully with the Commissioner of Police the current process of making a security assessment of the four Uighurs. The Commissioner has underlined his serious concerns about misleading comments on the supposed content of the security assessment. Government House share the Police Commissioner's concerns.

"So far the Commissioner and his experts in the Bermuda Police Service have not had from the Bermuda Government who brought the Uighurs here and without any advance notice to the Police the information they need to make a proper assessment.

"Their provisional assessment, to a handful of Ministers and Government House, made clear that the Bermuda Police Service have been given neither the political background nor any available criminal background on the four men; nor have the Police been given any detailed psychological assessments.

"Without a good deal more information the Police cannot make a professional assessment of the likely future intentions of the four Uighurs. This information is being sought from abroad, after which the Bermuda and British security authorities hope to be able to take a formed view."

Opposition Leader Kim Swan said the Premier's statement to the House on the topic "misrepresented the official assessment put together by the Police".

He continued: "The Premier's deception cuts to the heart of the Uighar controversy. If we cannot take the Premier at his word on a matter as serious as this, it calls into question everything he says. As a matter of urgency, the Premier must explain his failure to provide MPs and the people of Bermuda with a truthful report on the Police risk assessment."

The Royal Gazette contacted Premier Ewart Brown via his press secretary Glenn Jones asking whether Dr. Brown misled the House over the security assessment issue.

Mr. Jones replied: "The Premier was briefed by Minister (of Labour, Home Affairs and Housing David) Burch on the Police Commissioner's preliminary assessment. Any comments the Premier made publicly were consistent with the content of the Minister's briefing."

Minister Burch subsequently issued a statement of his own, although he did not explain how the apparently contradictory statements on the level of risk came to pass.

"The Government of Bermuda takes no issue with the two statements issued today by His Excellency the Governor and the Commissioner of Police. The omission of the word 'preliminary' when talking about the Police threat assessment in public utterances is regretted and is in no way intended to minimize the work to be done by the Bermuda Police Service in carrying out its own due diligence," he said.

"Government has provided Government House and subsequently the Bermuda Police Service with all of the information from the United States Government and stands ready to assist in further information should the need arise. We were informed that the BPS would independently seek information from its international law enforcement partners and we await the outcome of that phase.

"As the Premier indicated at the outset, this process is far from over and today's announcement from the Governor appears to indicate that much more time will be required for the apparent thorough assessment being conducted by the UK Government. As the Commissioner indicated this is a detailed process likely to take more than the four or five days since all parties were made aware of these matters. "

Deputy Premier Paula Cox, meanwhile, revealed that the Premier was contacted by the Commissioner of Police after he talked about the risk assessment on a Sunday night radio talk show.

She explained: "While the Premier was on Bermuda Speaks the COP (Commissioner of Police) sent an e-mail to the Premier so that he could further clarify comments about the BPS's (Bermuda Police Service's) initial findings in connection with the security review. This was in response to a telephone caller.

"Once in receipt of the e-mail the Premier informed the listening audience of the clarification that the COP provided. That response would not suggest an intention or desire to knowingly mislead."

The four former prisoners' lawyer Susan Baker Manning expressed dismay over the risk-assessment debate, telling The Royal Gazette: "It's not true that they are a high risk....I can't imagine what the Commissioner made that assessment on. They're no threat to anyone."