By Mary Jordan and Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, February 1, 2007; A08
BIRMINGHAM, England, Jan. 31 -- British police arrested nine people Wednesday in a large counterterrorism sweep reported to involve an alleged Iraq-style plot to kidnap, torture and kill a Muslim soldier serving in the British army and post video of his execution on the Internet.
Such a plot would represent a dramatic turn in tactics by Islamic extremists in Britain -- a single murder rather than a bomb plot designed to kill large numbers of people. It would also be the first known case of radicals in Britain targeting a fellow Muslim for serving in the British army.
Birmingham police did not release the names of the people arrested in pre-dawn raids on eight homes and four businesses in two predominantly Muslim neighborhoods. Neighbors reported that police broke down doors and hauled off suspects beginning about 4:30 a.m.
David Shaw, a top police official, said the arrests were the "culmination of many months of activities" and "a very, very major investigation" that is "by no means finished." At a news conference, he declined to elaborate on the alleged plot or comment on reports by the BBC and many other news organizations that police sources said the plot involved the planned abduction and execution of a particular Muslim soldier. Several reports said the soldier had served in Afghanistan and has been placed under protective custody in Britain.
The arrests and raids stunned this city of 1 million residents northwest of London where the Muslim population, estimated at 14 percent in the 2001 census, has grown in recent years.
"If it were another bombing plot, I wouldn't be as scared," said Vera Bates, 65, who has lived for 40 years in the Alum Rock neighborhood, a predominantly Muslim area. "But because now they are talking about kidnapping someone off the street, beheading him and putting him on a video -- now that is scary." Her home is near a brick rowhouse and a business, Khan's General Store, that were raided by police.
Many Muslims who gathered at police lines said they viewed the raids as unfairly targeting their community and probably based on false intelligence. "We feel like we are under siege," said Allah Ditta, a businessman in Alum Rock and a member of a mosque a block from Khan's General Store.
Ditta said that he had already felt a backlash from the police operation when several men drove past him in a van and swore at him simply because he was dressed as a Muslim. "We will be picking up the pieces of this raid for years to come," he said.
Police counterterrorism raids have become increasingly common since Islamic extremists killed 52 people on subway trains and a bus in London in July 2005. What police call a virtually identical attack two weeks later failed when the alleged attackers' bombs failed to detonate; six men are on trial in that case.
Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of Britain's MI5 domestic security agency, which was involved in Wednesday's raids, gave a rare public address in November and said British authorities were monitoring as many as 30 potential terrorism plots involving up to 1,600 individuals in 200 radical groups.
"If anyone is involved in terrorist activities, I condemn it," said Shaukat Ali, who lives on Jackson Road, where one of the arrested men lives.
He said he knew the man, describing him as a 28-year-old named Amjad and a father of two, and found it hard to believe he was involved in such a plot. He said the man worked behind the cash register at his father's business, Khan's General Store, from early morning until late at night seven days a week. "Many people knew this hardworking family and we are shocked," Ali said.
Ditta, the Alum Rock businessman and a member of the mosque a block from Khan's General Store, noted that none of the nine men had been charged. Under new anti-terrorism laws, police can hold suspects without charge for up to 28 days. Many times, he said, there have been high-profile raids and then days later the detainees are let go without charge.
He said he believes police could and should make arrests more quietly because these dramatic arrests, with dozens of officers breaking down doors and windows with hammers, are unfairly harming Muslim communities.
Tariq Khan, a Birmingham City Council member who represents the neighborhood, joined the street scene of police, TV cameras and large numbers of neighbors. He said he wanted people to know that "ninety-nine percent of these people are law-abiding citizens."
Others in Birmingham said they supported the police. "If they saved a life, it is certainly worth it," said Paul Hockney, a construction worker. "These raids have become the norm -- how sad is that? Our country is in big trouble."
Several miles from Alum Rock, police were standing guard Wednesday night outside an electronics shop and had shut down an Islamic bookstore. The Maktabah Al Ansaar bookshop has drawn scrutiny for years from British and U.S. counterterrorism investigators.
In 1999, the shop published the autobiography of Dhiren Barot, a Hindu convert to Islam who was arrested in 2004 and charged with plotting to bomb financial targets in New York, New Jersey and Washington on behalf of al-Qaeda. A British judge sentenced him in November to life in prison.
One of the store's former employees is Moazzem Begg, a British citizen who traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 and was arrested in January 2002 and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Begg was released in January 2005 without being charged with a crime.
Sullivan reported from London. Correspondent Craig Whitlock in Berlin and special correspondent Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.