January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

LONDON, Jan 18: British police have foiled a plot to kidnap Prime Minister Tony Blair’s five-year-old son Leo, the Sun newspaper said on Wednesday.

Citing an unnamed security source, the tabloid newspaper said people on the fringe of a group which campaigns for the rights of divorced fathers had planned to snatch the child and hold him for a short period as a publicity stunt.

Following the report, the Fathers 4 Justice group suspended its activities and confirmed that police had quizzed some of its former members before Christmas.

Fathers 4 Justice has staged several high-profile protests in the past few years. A campaigner dressed as Batman climbed Queen Elizabeth’s London residence in 2004 and another pelted Mr Blair with purple flour bombs while he addressed parliament.

The group says British courts unfairly restrict fathers’ access to children in custody disputes.

The Sun said Special Branch officers uncovered the plot in its early stages just before Christmas and foiled it.

Both police and Mr Blair’s office declined to comment.

However, there were no reports of any arrests, prompting media speculation that if police believed there was such a plot they did not think it had reached an advanced stage.

The Sun gave no details of how the group planned to evade the tight security which surrounds Mr Blair and his family to carry out the kidnapping.

The BBC said police sources had confirmed that they were aware of a possible plot but were not convinced those involved had the ability to carry it out.

The Fathers 4 Justice head said he had suspended its operations immediately as a result of the Sun report, and would shut it down for good if it were ‘hijacked by militants’.

“After peacefully campaigning for three years to ensure children get to see their fathers, we condemn any individual who planned this appalling outrage which is anathema to our campaign,” Matt O’Connor said in a statement.

Mr O’Connor, 38, said his group had expelled about 30 members last year for talking about carrying out extreme stunts.

He said police had told him that anti-terrorism officials had visited former members of the group over Christmas.

“We were aware that there were more extremist elements and we acted within our organization to clean the undesirable element out,” he said.

The Sun said security services had reviewed the protection given to Mr Blair and his wife Cherie and their four children. Armed police guard them round the clock.

“Appropriate steps have now been taken,” the Sun quoted a security source as saying. “They were naturally very concerned.

“It was good intelligence work. Fortunately we think we have nipped this thing in the bud.” —Reuters