LONDON // Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer has quit after a security blunder was believed to have forced a major operation to deal with a suspected al Qa'eda plot to be brought forward. The Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner Bob Quick was photographed entering the prime minister's residence at Number 10 Downing Street yesterday openly carrying a secret document revealing plans to crack down on a group suspected of plotting attacks in Britain.
Hours after he and the document were pictured, police arrested 12 men in unusual daylight counter-terrorism raids across north-west England. Mr Quick, who issued an apology after news of his error broke, decided to resign from his post today. "I have this morning with great reluctance and sadness ... accepted Bob Quick's resignation as head of counter-terrorism," Boris Johnson, London mayor and chairman of the body that oversees London police, told BBC radio.
Opposition politicians had indicated they believed Mr Quick's position was becoming untenable. "This could have blown a major counter-terrorism operation ? very fortunately it didn't, the arrests were still made," the Conservative home affairs spokesman Chris Grayling told BBC TV. The document, headlined "Briefing Note: Operation Pathway" and marked "secret", described the operation as a "Security Service-led investigation into suspected AQ (al Qa'eda) driven attack planning within the UK".
It said 11 people were targeted for arrest, 10 of them Pakistan nationals in Britain on student visas, and one British. Officers are continuing to quiz the 12 suspects arrested during the raids by hundreds of officers across north-west England. One was held at Liverpool's John Moores University, two at a home improvements store in Clitheroe, Lancashire, and one on a motorway in Manchester. Four others were held in Liverpool and four in Manchester.
The arrested men ranged from a teenager to a 41-year-old man, police said. Officers also searched eight addresses in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire. * Reuters
