Danish editorial cartoonist in hiding

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- The Danish cartoonist who drew Mohammed with a bomb in his turban has been on the move since an alleged plot to kill him was uncovered last year.

Kurt Westergaard told the German magazine Der Spiegel that the arrest of three alleged assassins was a "great shock." Since then, he and his wife have changed locations at irregular intervals, staying with children, in vacation homes and for three weeks at a luxury hotel in Arhus. They were evicted after the management decided the couple was putting other guests at risk.

The original drawing of the cartoon is in a safe deposit box.

Westergaard, 73, is a longtime cartoonist and illustrator for Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that caused an uproar in the Muslim world by publishing 12 cartoons of Mohammed. A social democrat, he does not share the paper's conservative ideology and says he was just doing his job.

Since November, the Westergaards have made only one visit to their apartment for Christmas and his wife's birthday party. An intelligence officer helped serve guests -- while keeping a wary eye on them.