U.K. Terror Police Arrest 8 Over Alleged Kidnap Plot

Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. police arrested eight people in anti-terrorist raids on homes in Birmingham, central England, after uncovering a plot to kidnap a Muslim soldier.

Police searched 12 locations in the city, the second largest in the U.K., and sealed buildings including an Islamic bookshop. The alleged plot involved abducting a serving British soldier in his 20s and possibly beheading him, two people with knowledge of the investigation said.

``A major counter-terrorism operation took place today, the home secretary has been fully briefed on the operation and is receiving regular updates as developments occur,'' Home Office spokesman Stuart Green said by telephone of the briefing given to John Reid.

U.K. police have arrested more than 1,000 people under the Terrorism Act 2000 since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. Since then Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to take part in U.S.-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan has angered some of the country's 2 million Muslims.

Police have carried out several high-profile counter- terrorism operations since the first successful al-Qaeda inspired attack in the country on July 7, 2005. In that attack four British Muslims blew themselves up on London's transport network killing 52 people. Police arrested five men on suspicion of terrorist offenses in raids in the towns of Manchester and Halifax on Jan. 23. The trial of six men accused of trying to launch another attack on London's transport system on July 21, 2005, is currently underway.

Arrest Scenes

``Kidnapping is a fairly common tool in the terrorist arsenal and provides high visibility for extended periods of time,'' said security analyst Bob Ayers, associate fellow of foreign policy think tank Chatham House, a foreign policy institute in London, who spent 30 years in intelligence with the U.S. Army and Defense Intelligence Agency. ``Something happened to cause the police to carry out the raids when they did. Either they were getting ready to launch their plot or the police were about to be compromised.'' Police would probably have had the group under surveillance for some time, he said.

Today's raids were at 12 addresses in the Sparkhill, Washwood Heath, Kingstanding and Edgbaston areas of Birmingham. All are being searched. One raid involved armed police. The city has a 14 percent Muslim population and 11 percent of its residents are of Pakistani descent, according to a 2001 census of the U.K. population.

Terrorism Act

The eight suspects were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, West Midlands Police said. The operation was ``nationwide,'' though police gave no details of activity elsewhere.

``I haven't seen any terrorist activity there at all and I'm quite shocked,'' Saqib Hussain, who lives next to the Islamic bookshop that was sealed off, told the British Broadcasting Corporation.

The kidnapping of a soldier would be a new tactic for terrorists in the U.K. In 2004 Ken Bigley, a British civil engineer, was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq by a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Zarqawi died in a U.S. air strike in 2006.

The Home Office rates the terrorist threat to the U.K. as ``severe,'' the second highest level, meaning that an attack is highly likely. Elizabeth Manningham-Buller, head of the domestic intelligence agency MI5, said in November that the country may be facing as many as 30 terror plots.

Intelligence Agencies

In August, 2006 intelligence agencies said they foiled an alleged plot to use liquids in carry-on luggage to bomb U.S.- bound flights from the U.K. Seventeen people arrested in raids across the U.K. were charged in connection with the allegations.

Following the July 7, 2005 attacks in London the U.K. government made the integration of the country's Muslims a priority. Sky News said the arrested men were British born of Pakistani origin, while one was Pakistani.

A study published Jan. 29 by the Policy Exchange, a consultant on government policies, said that by emphasizing the differences between Muslims and other Britons the government had actually made tensions ``worse not better.''

The think tank's survey of 1,003 British Muslims showed the interest of young Muslims in religion was more politicized than it had been for their parents. Three quarters of 16- to 24-year- olds questioned said they would prefer Muslim women to wear a veil. Among the 55-year-olds and above, only 28 percent favored it.

The survey showed that younger rather than older Muslims were more likely to prefer living under the Islamic legal framework, or Sharia, and favored Islamic schools over non- religious state schools.