Posted on 01/31/2007 2:55:11 AM PST by Eurotwit
The eight people arrested by terror police in Birmingham were allegedly planning an Iraq-style kidnapping and beheading, Sky News has learned.
Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt says the kidnappers planned to post a video of the hostage being tortured and killed on the internet.
Their target was an unidentified man in his twenties who is now under police protection.
Brunt says he was picked out because of his job. It is not yet known what this was.
The suspects were detained under the Terrorism Act after a six-month surveillance operation involving officers from two forces.
More details will be given at a police briefing at 11.30am, followed by a press conference at 3pm. You can watch it live on Sky News online.
Brunt said officers feared the alleged plot was "coming to fruition".
The fact it "would not have resulted in a mass casualties" suggested a "chilling new departure" in terror tactics.
The suspects had been tracked in a combined police operation led by the Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.
They were supported by officers from the West Midlands police and the Metropolitan Police.
Officers swooped on a number of addresses in the Sparkhill and Alum Rock areas of east Birmingham at 4am.
West Midlands police said the eight were held "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000".
Their statement added: "A number of addresses in Birmingham have been secured and sealed off and are currently being searched.
"Whilst this operation poses no specific threat to the West Midlands, as a precautionary measure we will have an enhanced police presence at these locations.
"Our message to people living in the West Midlands is to remain vigilant. Public safety is our absolute priority."
A Home Office spokesman said: "This operation is a reminder of the real and serious nature of the terrorist threat we face."
Today's arrests come after police detained a total of five people in anti-terror raids in Manchester and Halifax, West Yorkshire, last week.
We'd find out in a heart beat with our wiretaps, oops, I mean we'd track their actions, oops can't do that either. I guess we'd shout our indignation and just blame Bush. /sarcasm
British citizens are by far safer from terrorism than American citizens. With American laws the group apprehended last year planning on several hijackings/blowing up the plane (9-11 style) could never have been discovered.
I've heard Neal Boortz say that there ARE good Muzzies.
I don't think so, because by keeping quiet they CONDONE this type of behavior!
UPDATE:
'Beheading' Target Was Soldier
Updated: 11:34, Wednesday January 31, 2007
A British soldier was about to be abducted, tortured and beheaded by alleged terrorists in the UK, Sky News has learned.
More follows . .
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1249658,00.html
Regards, Ivan
And by "Iraq style" they mean "Muslim style".
Sadly, you are correct.
Figgers.
How can that be???
I thought they were safe after they agreed to realign all the prison toilets!
Terror videos for sale at (Birmingham) mosque (al-Qaeda recruitment video of 9/11 terrorist)
Exactly, enough is enough!!...
It's hard to believe that such stinking vermin live here, mind you this is Birmingham we're talking about...
Our armed forces personnel resident in the UK ain't gonna be happy about this I can tell you and they ain't one bit afraid of these muslim cowards!
According to the Sky article, they were planning on kidnapping a Muslim serving in the British armed forces. This was meant as a warning to Muslims not to cooperate with Britain and to remember to whom they really owed their allegiance. Well, at any rate, to what self-designated Islamic "leaders" they owed their allegiance.
The article didn't say who these terrorists are, so my guess is that it's those fundamentalist Presbyterians again.
I think I smell a rat here with this story, they know they'll be a more muted reaction amongst folk if they say it was a muslim soldier. It's not the first time either that the armed forces have been the target of extremists back home after returning from service in Iraq or Afghanistan and those weren't muslim.
I'm not sure though exactly how many muslim soldiers are in the British armed forces but I'm sure it ain't many.
There is no evidence to support that statement.
"It's hard to believe that such stinking vermin live here . . . "
Unfortunately, they're living everywhere these days; I'm sure the USA has more than our own share of them.
They apparently want to wake up the UK citizens and citizens everywhere else too.
I hope this backfires on them and strengthens the resolve of those who oppose muzzie terrorism.
I can't remember how many there are, but I read the figure recently and was surprised to see that there are actually a fair number of Muslims in the British armed forces.
I suppose it's true that people will regard it as less interesting if it is revealed that the soldier is Muslim, since they will tend to regard it as simply internecine warfare that does not affect them. Realistically speaking, though, it is an attempt to get all British Muslims on the side of the terrorists, either through belief or through fear, so it's very dangerous to everybody and people should bear that in mind.
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