Saturday, September 18, 2010

Pope visit: Five men held over papal terror alert

Five men have been arrested in London by the Metropolitan Police in relation to a potential threat to Pope Benedict XVI's visit.

The arrests were made at 0545 BST in London after counter-terrorism officers received intelligence of a potential threat.

The five men, all street cleaners in Westminster, were taken to a central London police station.

Officers are searching a number of premises. The arrested are not British.

The men all worked for Veolia Environment Services, a major contract cleaning company that works for Westminster Council.

Armed officers arrested the men at the company's Chiltern Street depot, Paddington, as they were preparing to go on shift.

In a statement from Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police said that the five men had been arrested in a Terrorism Act 2000 operation, launched by officers from the force's Counter-Terrorism Command.

The five were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

They are 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50 years old and most are understood to be Algerian. Following the arrests, police began searches as the depot and at homes in north and east London. Officers have not found any hazardous items.

In the statement, the Metropolitan Police said: "Today's arrests were made after police received information following initial inquiries by detectives. A decision was made to arrest the five men.

"Following today's arrests policing arrangements for the papal visit were reviewed and we are satisfied our current policing plan remains appropriate. The itinerary has not changed. There is no change to the UK threat level."

The current official threat level in the UK is "severe", which means that security chiefs believe a terror attack is "highly likely".

The BBC understands that the information acted on by the police was received by Scotland Yard and did not involve intelligence gathered by MI5, the domestic security service.

Pope 'calm'

Reacting to the development, Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope's press spokesman, said the Vatican was "totally confident" in Scotland Yard and the ability of its officers.

The papal team had no direct information about the police operation, he said, adding that the Pope remained calm and had been welcomed warmly everywhere he had gone.

"The police have already said that the information demonstrated that there is no need to change the programme," he said.

In a statement, Dr Leith Penny of Westminster City Council, said: "Veolia and Westminster City Council work closely with the relevant authorities to constantly ensure that all the people working on their behalf are subject to right to work checks as prescribed by the Home Office to assess their eligibility to work in the country.

"We are confident that these checks are robust and we will continue to work with the police and other authorities during this investigation."

Policing bill

The UK's top police officers from England and Scotland spent months planning the security arrangements for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK.

Those plans included threat assessments, standard arrangements covering the safe transport of significant public figures and the potential need to control crowds during the visit's major events.

In all, the policing bill for the visit is expected to top £1m.

The BBC's Emily Buchanan, who was with the Pope at his visit to an assembly of children at a Catholic college in west London, described the security around the Pope as "extremely high... with no lapses".

SIC: BBC/UK