Bob Quick Resigns as al-Qaeda Plot Revealed

Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer resigned today after a basic mistake which led to a sensitive anti-terrorism operation being urgently brought forward.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick admitted that revealing a document marked 'top secret' to photographers as he exited a car outside Downing Street may have jeopardised the operation, against twelve men believed to be al-Qaeda operatives.

The twelve men, ten of whom are Pakistani nationals on student visas, were arrested yesterday in the north west of England at various sites in Manchester and Liverpool. Sources claim that they were hoarding explosives for a major attack which would have occurred 'very soon', possibly against a nightclub or a shopping centre, most likely Manchester's Trafford Centre.

One of the premises raided was a DIY chain store, Homebase, where police arrested two security guards.

This raises yet more troubling questions about Britain's immigration policy - just who screened these men for entry and the right to settle and study? How many more are involved in similar plots?

More on the arrests from this news report:

An internet cafe and several homes are now being searched.

The Mail has more:

Officers from the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit supported by Merseyside Police, Greater Manchester Police and Lancashire Constabulary conducted the raids.

Senior detectives said they moved quickly following an 'imminent and credible' threat of an atrocity by an Al Qaeda linked group, including the construction of an explosive device, said to be a conventional bomb rather than a 'dirty' bomb incorporating nuclear material.

One officer said: 'These are the most significant terrorism arrests to be made for some time.

'There was information which led us to believe that these men were planning something major.

'It was not clear when or where they would strike but they were collecting material for a large explosion. We are talking about something big.'