Police kidnap threat ‘not credible’

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/10/police-kidnap-threat-not-credible

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A threat to kidnap and kill a police officer in the West Midlands was not credible and not related to terrorism, the force has said.

A 31-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday after an anonymous call to West Midlands police on Monday evening which said that staff were in danger. But he has now been eliminated from inquiries, although remains in custody on immigration matters.

West Midlands police is continuing to investigate the circumstances behind the call but it said “our assessment is that it was not terrorist related nor is there any credible threat of a kidnap”. The force had initially briefed 10,000 officers and staff amid fears of a possible jihadist plot after first assessing the threat as credible. MI5 assisted West Midlands police in the investigation into the call.

Although precise details of the threat have not been revealed, it came during a period of heightened fear of terrorist attack, particularly to police officers after the internal threat level for police was raised from moderate to substantial in October. That means that intelligence analysts believe there is a possibility that terrorists will target a serving police officer.

The concern about an increased threat to officers surfaced in October from a group of alleged Islamist plotters with alleged ties to Islamic State. Five men were charged with plotting to kill police officers or soldiers on the streets of London. Some of the group allegedly swore allegiance to Islamic State and scouted out Shepherd’s Bush police station and White City territorial army barracks on a “hostile reconnaissance” mission on Google Street View.

Terrorists are previously known to have planned to kill a soldier, and last year two men ran over and killed fusillier Lee Rigby near Woolwich barracks in south London.