(CBS/AP) Police on Thursday questioned nine men arrested in an alleged kidnapping plot that reportedly involved torturing and beheading a British Muslim soldier and broadcasting the act on the Internet.

The alleged plot, said by British media to mirror the brutal killings of foreign hostages in Iraq, was in its final stages and was uncovered during a six-month surveillance operation by anti-terror officers in this city of more than 1 million in the heart of England, police said.

The soldier believed to be targeted in the kidnapping was a lance corporal in his 20s who was on home leave after serving in Afghanistan, The Guardian newspaper reported, without giving the source of its information. Police and Britain's MI5 intelligence service believe militants planned to bundle him into a van as he walked along the street, the newspaper said, adding that he was in police protective custody along with members of his family.

But Britain's Sky News reported Thursday that as many as 25 people may have been targeted for abduction and execution in the plot, according to anonymous police sources. Sky did not say if any of the other alleged 25 were active military service members.

The Defense Ministry said 330 Muslims are serving in the British armed forces. It would not comment on reports that the intended victim was a soldier.

The nine suspects, believed to be British men of Pakistani descent, were arrested in a pre-dawn raid Wednesday on homes and businesses in several Birmingham neighborhoods, which were mostly Pakistani. On Thursday, police continued to search the buildings.

The suspects are believed to have drawn up a list of Muslim soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, London's Times newspaper reported, citing unidentified security officials. The suspects had narrowed their targets to a shortlist of three men, the newspaper said.

Police would not confirm reports from the British Broadcasting Corp. and other media that the intended victim was a British army soldier to be killed in an "Iraqi-style" execution and broadcast on the Internet.

West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw described the case as a "very, very major investigation" which would take "days, if not weeks."

"The threat from terrorism remains very real," he told reporters in Birmingham on Wednesday.

The suspects were arrested under the Terrorism Act, which gives police a maximum of 28 days to hold them in custody. They were being held at police stations in the West Midlands.

Sky News spoke to the brother of one of the men apparently arrested during the raids, and he complained that the suspect's family was distraught, having been given no information as to his whereabouts or why he was being held.

Several thwarted terror plots have involved Britain. A British Muslim pleaded guilty to plotting to blow up landmarks including the New York Stock Exchange. In August, police foiled an alleged plan by Muslim extremists to use liquid explosives to blow up as many as 10 flights between the United States and Britain.

But the alleged Birmingham kidnapping plot raised fears that a new type of terrorism had reached Britain — one that threatens to spread the type of terror seen in Iraq, with kidnappings and publicized beheadings, and one that suggests Britain's young Muslims are becoming angrier over their country's continued involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Britain's secret service says it has at least 30 active terrorist plots — and 1,600 suspects — currently under surveillance, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.

But many British Muslims believe that's an over-reaction.

"Every other day there is a raid," one Muslim man told CBS News.

For this reason the operation was a risky one, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Police have made high-profile arrests of Muslims suspected of ambitious terror plots before, only to have to let suspects go when the intelligence proved wrong. If they can't make this one stick, they risk further alienating an already suspicious community.

Four suicide bombers — Muslims raised in England who expressed anger over Britain's role in the wars — killed 52 people on London's transit system during rush-hour attacks on July 7, 2005. The killings were Western Europe's first suicide bombings. In the past year, that anger has spilled over to Muslims who serve in the British armed forces.

Britain's first Muslim soldier to be killed in Afghanistan last year was from Birmingham, where his death prompted militant Islamist Web sites to denounce Cpl. Jabron Hashmi, 24, as a traitor. One site — that of extremist British sect al-Ghurabaa — posted an image of Hashmi surrounded by flames.

On Thursday, the Daily Mail newspaper quoted Hashmi's brother, former British soldier Zeeshan Hashmi, 27, as saying that if the terror plot is confirmed, it would be a crime "with no justification" that would have repercussions on Muslims worldwide.

"What I would say to the extremists is that extremism does not help change anything. If you really want to make a change and be effective, I would say it's best to be part of the system and work peacefully within, not be outside it," Zeeshan was quoted as saying.

During the raids in Birmingham on Wednesday, 12 houses and four business — including two Muslim bookstores and an Internet cafe — were cordoned off.

The raids opened divides in the city's predominantly Pakistani neighborhoods, where some residents complained that British media reports about the alleged plot were subjecting them to unfair criticism and suspicions.

Other residents were frightened.

"It's mad, crazy. You wouldn't expect terror suspects round here," Michael Lucid, 21, said Thursday.

© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Back To Top