Counter-terrorism officers were investigating a possible jihadist plot to kill a police officer as they tried to establish the veracity of information that led to them warning staff to take extra security measures.
West Midlands police said they received anonymous information on Monday evening that led them to brief 10,000 officers and staff after they assessed the threat as credible.
Officers investigating the alert arrested a 31-year-old man on Tuesday at a property in the West Midlands “in connection with the investigation into threats made to West Midlands police officers and staff”.
Police would not discuss details of the threat but it comes during a heightened fear of terrorist attack and after the raising of the threat level facing police officers. The internal threat level for police was raised from moderate to substantial in October, meaning intelligence analysts believe there is a strong possibility that terrorists will target an officer.
The information concerned a threat to abduct and kill a Muslim police officer in an echo of a conspiracy involving a Birmingham man convicted several years ago of plotting to abduct and kill a Muslim soldier.
One issue for police was whether the call may have been a hoax but police chiefs decided they had to warn officers and staff to be extra vigilant. It is not clear if any attack might be staged against an officer or a police station, and possibly involve an abduction.
Other forces were monitoring the situation but the information regarding the threat is believed to be specific to the West Midlands area.
Police said they were working normally while the threat being taken seriously.
“It was anonymous, but credible information,” said West Midlands police assistant chief constable Garry Forsyth, “and we acted swiftly to relay details to officers and remind them over the importance to remain vigilant.”
MI5 is assisting the investigation, which is being led by West Midlands police’s counter-terrorism unit.
Forsyth added: “In this particular case we have received information relating to the safety of West Midlands police officers and police staff. There is nothing at this time to suggest there is an increased risk to members of the public.
“We have taken the opportunity to remind all employees of the need to be vigilant. Our priority remains serving our communities and protecting them from harm. Officers remain on patrol and our staff continue to respond to calls for service as usual.”
The UK terrorist threat level was increased this year to severe, meaning an attack is believed by counter-terrorism officials to be highly likely.
The concern about heightened level of threat against police officers which surfaced in October came from a group of alleged Islamist plotters with alleged ties to Islamic State. Five men were charged with plotting to kill police officers or soldiers on the streets of London. Some of the group allegedly swore allegiance to Islamic State and scouted out Shepherd’s Bush police station and White City territorial army barracks on a “hostile reconnaissance” mission on Google Street View.
They allegedly kept Instagram images of two Scotland Yard police officers and two Metropolitan police community support officers, as well as a trove of jihadist material including videos of beheadings.
Since then another group of plotters whom counter terrorism officials believe they disrupted, may have shown an interest in police as a target, though that interpretation is open to dispute.
Previously terrorists are known to have planned a plot to kidnap and kill a soldier, and last year two men ran over and killed Lee Rigby, a private drummer in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, in a street near Woolwich barracks, south London.
In 2008, Islamist fanatic Parviz Khan was jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years over a plot to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier. Khan, of Alum Rock, Birmingham, planned to lure a soldier off the streets with the promise of drugs, before filming the killing.
