British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Pakistan on Thursday to do more to root out terror after British police arrested 12 mostly Pakistani suspects over a “major terrorist plot” linked to al-Qaeda.
Police said 11 of the men arrested during raids across northwest England on Wednesday were Pakistani nationals, thought to be in the UK on student visas.
The raids had to be hastily brought forward after Britain’s top anti-terror chief, Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, inadvertently revealed the details of the operation.
Quick resigned over the gaffe, which saw him photographed as he arrived at Brown’s Downing Street office on Wednesday with a secret document about the suspected plot clearly visible. Photographs of the document included locations of the raids and showed the operation was “AQ-driven,” meaning al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda operatives located on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were highlighted as one of the major security threats facing Britain in the government’s counter-terrorism strategy published last month.
“We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan,” Brown said. “That is an important issue for us to follow through and that’s why I will be talking to President [Asif Ali] Zardari about what Pakistan can do to help us in the future.”
Brown defended the decision to move the raids forward to Wednesday evening once it became clear that the police swoop risked being compromised.
“We have been investigating a major terrorist plot and we have got to act early. Our first concern is always the safety of the public. It is right that we took the urgent action that we did over the course of yesterday,” he said. “We are dealing with a very big terrorist plot. We have been following it for some time. There were a number of people who are suspected of it who have been arrested. That police operation was successful.”
Pakistan’s high commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, told the BBC he was “shocked” and “surprised” at the alleged link to his country.
He said Pakistan had been working hard to combat terrorism within its borders, and said issuing student visas was Britain’s responsibility.
The raids took place in the cities of Manchester and Liverpool — including at John Moores University — as well as in the nearby town of Clitheroe.
There were plans to attack a nightclub and shopping center complex in Manchester as early as this weekend, media reports said.
Announcing his decision to quit, Quick said in a statement: “I have today offered my resignation in the knowledge that my action could have compromised a major counter-terrorism operation.”
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