The eight people arrested early Wednesday morning by police in
central England were allegedly planning an Iraq-style kidnapping
and beheading in the country.
The eight people intended to post on the internet a video of a
British Muslim soldier being tortured and killed, Sky news
reported.
The unnamed hostage, who is in his 20s, is now under police
protection, it said.
The eight were arrested in Birmingham at 4:00 AM after a
six-month surveillance operation involving both police and the
secret intelligence service MI5, the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) reported on Wednesday.
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."
Security sources were quoted as saying that the plot "would not
have resulted in a mass casualties", but marked "a different
approach to terrorism in Britain."
The police will host a press conference on the operation on
Wednesday afternoon.
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)
