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British Muslims charged with kidnap plot 

Financial Time 

Parviz Khan, one of nine men arrested in Birmingham on terror charges last week, has been charged with planning to kidnap and kill a British soldier. Five other men were charged with terrorism offences. 

West Midlands Police see the charges as a vindication of their investigation, showing that the Crown Prosecution Service believes there is sufficient evidence for the men to face trial. However, it will come as a blow to critics in the Muslim community who had claimed the UK was turning into a “police state”, sanctioning harassment of Muslims. 

Speculation had mounted after the release of three of the nine men earlier this week that all might be set free without charge. Last year, London’s Metropolitan Police was severely embarrassed when it released two Muslims arrested in a high-profile raid in Forest Gate without charge. The men – one of whom was shot in the raid – complained bitterly at their treatment, as did freed Birmingham suspect Abu Bakr this week. 

It is the first important investigation the newly formed Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit. Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw said the Birmingham investigation had made “extraordinary progress” seizing 4,500 pieces of potential evidence, including computers, mobile phones and documents.

The police searched 18 properties, including a corner shop, an Islamic bookshop and an internet café, in districts with large Muslim populations such as Sparkhill and Washwood Heath. The four men charged alongside Mr Khan, who is 36, are Mohammed Irfan, 30, Zahoor Iqbal, 29, Hamid Elasmar, 43 and Amjad Mahmood, 31.

The four are accused of supplying equipment for use in terrorism. Mr Khan was also charged with this offence, as well as with entering into an arrangement to provide money or property for terrorist purposes.

Mr Mahmood, a shopkeeper, has also been charged with failing to tell the authorities that Mr Khan was planning terrorist acts. West Midlands police said a sixth man, Basiru Gassama, 29, was charged on Friday afternoon under the Terrorism Act.

He was due to appear in a London court on Saturday. A judge heard the charges this afternoon at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, after the men were transferred from a high-security jail in Coventry. ACC Shaw warned the media against speculation that might prejudice the trial.

There has been disquiet in the West Midlands Police concerning unattributed briefings of journalists by security service officers. Dr Mohammed Naseem, the outspoken chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, has claimed that there is no Muslim terror threat to the UK and that terrorist attacks blamed on Muslims were the work of Israeli provocateurs.

Dr Naseem was on Friday absent from the mosque, which has the largest congregation in Europe. Abdul Rashid, the mosque treasurer, said he personally believed there was a terror threat and that “the West Midlands Police has behaved utterly responsibly” Dr Tahir Abbas, an expert on British Muslims at Birmingham University said: “The charging of one person with a [kidnapping] plot changes everything.

It is confusing for the community, who saw the situation as a repeat of the Forest Gate incident. The situation now looks much darker and more sinister.” Worshippers attending Friday prayers at Birmingham Central Mosque said that they supported the police and that anyone guilty of terrorist offences should be punished.

Ali Khan, a 30 year-old teacher, expressed a common view, saying: “The police have handled the investigation well but the goodwill of the people is being tested.” He said the investigation would ultimately only be justified by successful prosecutions.