Three arrested over Gordon Brown 'assassination plot' charged with terror offences

Three men questioned about an alleged plot to assassinate Gordon Brown were last night charged with terror offences.

The men were arrested at Manchester Airport and Accrington, Lancashire, on August 14.

Ishaq Kanmi, 22, of Blackburn, is charged with soliciting murder, belonging or professing to belong to Al Qaeda, inviting support for the terrorist group, and dissemination of terrorist publications.

Brothers Abbas Iqbal, 23, and Ilyas Iqbal, 21, both of Blackburn, are charged with possession of an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

Abbas is also charged with dissemination of terrorist publications and Ilyas with collecting or making a record of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Police sources indicated last night that the charge of soliciting murder referred to an alleged plot to murder the Prime Minister.

The men will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court today.

Police are continuing to question two other men in relation to the alleged assassination plot.

It is understood no actual plot was in place but that officers discovered a written threat on an extremist jihadi website earlier this year.

A fourth man, a 24-year-old white Muslim convert, was arrested in Blackburn on Tuesday.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old thought to be Eastern European, was held in Derby early yesterday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown visits a school in Glasgow today, clearly unperturbed by the alleged death plot

Lancashire Police and Greater Manchester Police's Counter Terrorism Unit were granted an additional seven days to question them yesterday.

Counter-terrorist officers dressed in white boiler suits and wearing face masks spent the day searching the house in the Normanton district of the city where the 29-year-old man lived.

Residents of Derby expressed their shock at his arrest.

Councillor Fareed Hussain, a member of the Derby Muslim Forum and the city's council, said: 'The community reaction is going to be that of surprise but, from what I know of the details, he is not known to have any connection with the Muslim community in Derby.

'I don't know his name, we haven't got that far, other than the fact that he is Eastern European. He is not Asian or an Arab.

'It's down to the community to pull together as a result of what has happened and to work with each other to make sure that any extremists are weeded out of the community.'

One neighbour in Moore Street, Normanton, said: 'The first time I saw the police was at about 9am yesterday.'

The 30-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, added: 'I didn't see any armed police, I just saw them sitting there in their vehicles.

'It's shocking for people in the area. Most people keep to themselves.'