LONDON, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Security was increased Tuesday at the British prison used for terrorist suspects because of an alleged plot to kidnap senior members of staff, an official said.
The Daily Mirror reported Tuesday a source said governors at Belmarsh Prison in London were told at a meeting Tuesday of a tip about the plan allegedly hatched by al-Qaida prisoners. The inmates reportedly planned to lock themselves into a cell with one of the governors.
"They were told not to be alone with prisoners," the source said. "The intelligence came in late at night and the governors were briefed the next morning. Belmarsh governors never take threats lightly."
Belmarsh on the site of the Woolwich Arsenal on the Thames in Greenwich is a high-security men's prison. It houses many terrorist suspects in pretrial detention.
Security at Belmarsh had already been ratcheted up because of an alleged plot to booby-trap a governor's car, the Mirror said.
The newspaper has also reported a plan by the Muslim Boys, described as an al-Qaida splinter group, to carry out an attack in reprisal for the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. SEALs in early May.
The gang has already used blades fastened to toothbrushes as weapons, the source said, describing the Muslim Boys as "the most biggest gang in the prison system."
