Street cleaners arrested in Pope 'plot' were overheard discussing attack

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8517364/Street-cleaners-arrested-in-Pope-plot-were-overheard-discussing-attack.html

Street cleaners arrested over an alleged plot to kill the Pope were said to have been overheard threatening to kill a Christian for every page of the Koran, it has emerged.

A report on the incident has said that although all six men were later released without charge, police were justified in making the arrests after receiving a call at 4.30pm on September 16, the day before the Pope was due to arrive in London.
The caller reported that five men were looking at a picture in the Metro newspaper of the Pope’s motor vehicle and talking about a recent incident where the Koran was allegedly burned.
They were overheard saying that a “Christian should be killed for every page that was damaged” according to the report by David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.
“The view was expressed that whilst the Pope’s vehicle was protected, it could be stopped and that even if he survived, those around him would die,” Mr Anderson said.
“Comments were made to the effect that it would be wonderful if the Pope was killed and that there were virgins waiting for them.”
The source also told police that the men could all be working on the day of the Pope’s visit to London and the depot had recently taken delivery of new uniforms, ten of which had been stolen.
A close associate of one of the men was said to have been arrested under the Terrorism Act three to four months earlier and taken to Paddington Green police station.
One of the men was said to have returned from Paris on Monday or Tuesday of that week having shaven his hair off and become radicalised.
Initial checks were run on the five men and SO15, Scotland Yard’s Counter-Terrorism Command, was informed at 11.16pm.
At 1.20am, SO15’s Intelligence Senior Duty Officer informed a senior detective about the possible threat and two hours later Assistant Commissioner John Yates chaired a “gold command” meeting to decide on what action to take, including whether to cancel the Pope’s visit.
By 5.15 armed police were ready to make an arrest at the Veolia depot on Chiltern Street in London’s West End and the men were detained as they arrived for work and hour later.
A sixth man was arrested after arriving at work, hearing of the arrests and leaving in a agitated state, around the same time that the Pope’s convoy was making its way into central London.
The men were all of Algerian origin and living and working in Britain legally apart from one man who was Sudanese and admitted that his asylum application had been turned down and he had assumed a false identity in order to obtain work.
In raids on the men’s homes, police removed 13 computers, 24 USB storage devices, nine music players and a games console along with 14 mobile phone sim cards, 10 new backpacks, and 10 high visibility Veolia jackets.
Only one of the men refused to answer questions during police interviews and all denied knowledge of any such plot.
“It seems fair to assume that no such plot existed,” Mr Anderson concluded, but he said the suspicions of the police were “plainly genuine” and added: “I consider that the police acted responsibly and within the law in arresting the six men when they did.”
He also warned that similar operations were likely in the build up to the Olympics and said use of Section 41 of the Terrorism Act would “provide a tempting riposte to such rumours and reports, particularly when the feared attack is imminent” as long as there was reasonable suspicion.