Convictions in soldier kidnap plot (18 February 2008)

Five conspirators in a plot to kidnap and behead a British soldier in Birmingham have been sentenced today in a trial at Leicester Crown Court. The five, who were residents of the West Midlands, were convicted on charges under the Terrorism Act 2006. Parviz Khan, the ringleader, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum sentence of 14 years and the other four were sentenced to between two and seven years' imprisonment. A sixth man was acquitted.

The case followed a lengthy investigation by the West Midlands Police Counter-Terrorism Unit and the Security Service, with the close involvement of the Crown Prosecution Service. Khan and the other four who were convicted had organised shipments of militarily useful equipment to extremist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a conversation recorded by Security Service investigators, Khan was overheard outlining his plan to kidnap a British Army soldier in Birmingham and film the soldier's decapitation in a bid to terrorise the public and harm Army morale.

For more information on this case, please see the following links:

For background information from the Security Service on the current terrorist threat to the UK, please see International Terrorism and the UK.