Midlands 'no terror hotspot'

Jul 9 2007 By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

CLAIMS the West Midlands has been identified as the al-Qaeda hotspot of the country were today dismissed as wide of the mark.

It was reported over the weekend that a secret MI5 map of extremism showed 219 hotspots of extremism countrywide.

The report claimed there were 80 known terror cells in the region - more than twice as many as London, which has around 35 suspect groups.

But a terror expert said today he believed the figure was an "exaggeration" as those with radical views, but no terrorist tendencies, could easily fall under the gaze of spies.

Dr Steve Hewitt, from the University of Birmingham, said all manner of individuals could be coming under surveillance as the security services tried to estimate the scale of the problem and the potential future threat.

"After the July 7 attack clearly the approach on behalf of the security services is that they are not going to take any chances," he said.

"They will monitor these groups rather than sit back and put it down to a bunch of guys talking, without any real desire to do anything.

"But it's not a precise science."

Khalid Mahmood (Lab, Perry Barr) chair of the All- Party Inquiry into Tackling Terrorism, added: "I would be quite surprised if the region was a hotspot.

"The region enjoys some of the best community relations in the country and if you look at the number of people arrested under the terrorism, statistically there hasn't been that many from the West Midlands."