Al-Qaeda Inmate Escape Plan Foiled

The Daily Mail reports that an escape plot involving 9 al-Qaeda terrorists held in Yorkshire's HMP Wakefield has been foiled.

The 9 men planned to kidnap the prison Imam during prayers with smuggled weapons, then use him as a human shield as they made their way to the sports field.

Accomplices on the outside were to hire a helicopter on business then hijack it at gunpoint, forcing it to land in the prison grounds until the men could jump aboard.

The escape attempt was allegedly scheduled for Friday, and prison officers discovered the weapons haul just hours before the attempt was due to take place.

It is said that the 9 men have been segregated and will now be transferred to separate prisons.

A prison source confirmed these reports, which were originally revealed in 'The Sun', and said that the escape attempt involved some of the most dangerous known al-Qaeda men in Britain and was rumbled just in time.

One of the terrorists held at Wakefield is Omar Khyam. He was sentenced to 20 years in 2007 for leading a terror cell which planned to blow up the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London and Bluewater Shopping Centre (Europe's largest) in Kent.

The Prison Service is investigating further.