BBC Newsnight 8.2.7

[Mark Gobell]

Worth watching last night's Newsnight, re: Home Office hype and briefing media on latest terror arrests, Romans growing grapes in Scotland, excellent prog.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/default.stm

Click on latest program.

[Mark Gobell]

The Newsnight prog mentions Paul Snape, vice chair of West Midlands Police Federation who is mentioned in this article:

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2005158,00.html

Police fear lurid terror briefings being used to divert attention from Whitehall problems

· Kidnap inquiry is hampered by speculation
· Details broadcast while one suspect at large

Ian Cobain, Steven Morris, Michael White, and Sandra Laville
Saturday February 3, 2007

The Guardian


Police investigating the alleged plot to abduct and behead a Muslim soldier expressed growing anger yesterday at a series of leaks and briefings which they say are hampering their inquiry.

Whitehall officials briefed journalists early on Wednesday before all of the suspects had been found, with the result that lurid details of the alleged plot were broadcast while one suspect remained at large. At least one tabloid newspaper had even been tipped off the night before the dawn raids, and its reporters put on standby to race to Birmingham.

Police sources in the West Midlands said yesterday they suspected the anonymous briefings may have been intended to deflect attention from the prisons crisis and the cash for honours inquiry, while counter-terrorism officials in London told the Guardian there was concern that the speculation generated is interfering with the investigation by the newly formed Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit.

One counter-terrorism official warned yesterday that "an awful lot of inaccuracies" had begun to appear in the media, to the alarm of West Midlands police. "As a result of some of the speculation, police feel they have been hampered in their evidence gathering," he said.

Some of the more sensational claims about the plot - such as reports yesterday that two young British Muslim soldiers had agreed to act as "live bait" in an attempt to trap the suspects - were dismissed by counter-terrorism officials as being completely untrue. Claims that police uncovered a list of 25 intended victims were also dismissed.

The Ministry of Defence said that it had no idea who was responsible for the briefings, while Home Office officials insisted no briefing had been offered by its press office, but a spokeswoman added: "I can only speak for what has been done on the record by the press office."

West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw revealed officers began searching three new locations yesterday, bringing to 18 the number of addresses examined, and said a "significant quantity" of exhibits had been taken away. But he expressed the force's frustration at the anonymous briefings, telling a press conference: "Everything I have said so far and everything I will say will be the truth. Anything further you wish to draw from comments elsewhere is down to yourselves."

Paul Snape, vice chair of West Midlands Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: "The police force is asking the question, where did it all come from? There may be political reasons for it, such as what was going on at the Home Office and at Downing Street."

Tayab Ali, a solicitor representing one of the nine suspects, said the Home Office would be guilty of "the clearest hypocrisy and double standards" if it was behind the briefings. "People in government are quick to complain that those involved in the cash for honours inquiry may not receive a fair trial, but there appears to be no such regard for ordinary criminal suspects or suspected terrorists."

Les Jones, a Conservative member of the West Midlands police authority, said: "We have far too much political interference in operational policing." He expressed concern that supposed details of the alleged plot were being broadcast at a time when one suspect was still at large, and warned that they could have a damaging impact on community relations.

There was a growing sense of disbelief in Birmingham's Muslim communities yesterday. The chairman of Birmingham central mosque, Mohammed Naseem, said Muslims were feeling persecuted. The arrests, he said, could be part of a plan "to maintain pressure" on Muslims.

The nine men were arrested after a joint police and security service operation is said to have begun six months ago. Some members of the group are alleged to have been planning to abduct a young British Muslim soldier recently returned from Afghanistan, and are said to have planned to film him as he begged for his life before being decapitated.

Four properties in London were raided by anti-terrorist police yesterday, although Scotland Yard said the raids were not linked to those in Birmingham. No one had been arrested and officers were still searching the properties in north and west London last night as part of an investigation into alleged international terrorism.

The nine suspects:

Amjad Mahmood, 29, father of two.

Azzar Iqbal, 38, father of two.

An unemployed father of four.

A man believed to be in his 20s arrested at a terrace house in Asquith Road in Washwood Heath.

A comprehensive school teacher, 29.

A bookseller, 29.

A man arrested in a raid on flats near Edgbaston cricket ground.

A man arrested on a motorway

A man arrested in Birmingham.