Daily Star : Footie Terror Plot

FOOTIE TERROR PLOT

By Bill Martin | April 9, 2009

Fears were growing over a bomb threat to last night’s Euro cup clash as police foiled a “major” terrorist attack.

Armed officers swooped on 10 men, including several British Muslims, at addresses across the north-west.

The raids were brought forward after a serious security blunder.

Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism police officer Bob Quick, head of Scotland Yard’s specialist operations wing, was pictured with sensitive documents going to Downing Street.

Details of a major on-going anti-terror operation could be read.

Anti-terror police later raided properties in Manchester, Merseyside and at Clitheroe, Lancs.

One unconfirmed report said an 11th man was also held in Pakistan.

Senior detectives said they were responding to a “imminent and credible” threat of an atrocity by an al Qaida-linked group.

The arrests came as 45,000 football fans converged on Anfield for Liverpool’s Champions League quarter-final clash with Chelsea. There is no immediate suggestion the stadium was the target but one of the raids was just three miles away.

Police were last night investigating claims that any planned attack might be football related.

They will probe whether Manchester United’s stadium at Old Trafford might also have been in the terrorists’ sights.

A police source said: “These are the most significant terrorism arrests for some time. We are talking about something big.”

Officers raided two properties in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, four miles from Old Trafford.

Two men were arrested and led away in handcuffs, locals said.

In Liverpool city centre, John Moores University’s glass-fronted Aldham Robarts library was raided.

Eyewitnesses said two students in their early 20s, thought to be of Pakistani origin, were Tasered then pinned to the floor.

The young men, one bearded and one clean-shaven, were taken away for questioning. Student Sian Hill said: “Suddenly all these men rushed towards us yelling: ‘Look at the floor! Look at the floor!’

“I didn’t know what was going on. One of the police opened the door and pushed me inside.

“The two men they arrested were really quite calm. They did what they were told and laid on the floor.”

Another student said a “distressed voice” came over the Tannoy asking students to stay away from the windows for their own safety.

Mr Quick was snapped on his way to brief Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

But under his arm was a “Top Secret” dossier on full public display giving details of a major on-going anti-terror operation.

Photographers were able to snap the file and details of forthcoming raids could clearly be read.

The information, which cannot be reported, included the names of several senior officers, locations and details about the nature of the overseas threat. Last night Mr Quick apologised to Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson following his blunder.