5th plot suspect seized by cops
SAS snipers will be on the streets tonight as Brits welcome in the new year.
Special forces soldiers will monitor crowds in London’s Trafalgar Square, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh.
They will be on hand to take out any attackers as throngs of Brits put two fingers up to terror and hit bars and parties to welcome in 2018.
Sharp-shooters will be equipped with the Barrett Light
.50 rifle, which can stop a vehicle at almost a mile.
Jihadis have made sinister threats online to cause chaos at New Year’s Eve celebrations.
One disturbing mock-up image showed an explosion on the banks of the Thames during the annual fireworks party.
Tens of thousands go to the event every year, with around
500,000 expected tonight. The video also shows a train derailing, as well as a car ploughing into a crowd.
It also calls on terrorists to attack nightclubs.
The Foreign Office has warned people to be “vigilant” at events across Europe.
But revellers can feel safer knowing a team of snipers will be guarding them.
The SAS units will use nightvision equipment and thermalimaging cameras to allow them to take out terrorists at night and in any weather.
Teams will also monitor the cities from helicopters.
Their rifles are capable of achieving a first-round kill at more than 1,400m during daylight and up to 800m at night.
Shooting vehicles being used as weapons is now believed to be one of the best ways of stopping terrorist attacks.
The SAS believe both the Westminster and London Bridge attacks could have been halted earlier if a sniper with a Barrett
.50 had been present.
They can bring a vehicle to a halt by killing the driver or destroying the engine block.
One source said last night: “New Year’s Eve is a nightmare for police and security forces because so many people are concentrated in small areas.
“Snipers have been positioned at key locations to ensure all routes leading to areas like Trafalgar Square are covered.
“They will be using armourpiercing ammunition and the world’s most powerful sniper rifle.
“It was initially designed to take out lightly armoured vehicles, so it should have no trouble stopping a car.”
The current UK threat level is “severe”, but senior intelligence sources last night refused to rule out raising it to “critical” – meaning an attack is imminent.
The Ministry of Defence said it does not comment on special forces operations.
The London Mayor’s Office, which is organising tonight’s fireworks, said: “We encourage everyone to be vigilant and to report anything of concern to a steward or police officer.”
A FIFTH man has been arrested over an alleged terror plot, police said.
Two buildings in Sheffield are being searched by counter-terrorist officers after the 21-year-old from the city was held late on Friday.
It follows the arrests of four men in the South Yorkshire city and nearby Chesterfield in Derbyshire on December 19.
A spokesman for Counter Terrorism Policing North East said: “The 21-year-old man, from the Fir Vale area of Sheffield, was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
“The intelligence-led arrest was made in the Firth Park area of Sheffield at approximately 11pm on Friday evening.
“Two addresses, a residential address in Fir Vale and a business address in Firth Park, are currently being searched by officers.”
Two of the men who were arrested on December 19 – Chesterfield fish and chip shop owner Andy Star, 31, and Farhad Salah, 22, from Sheffield – have been charged with one count of engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism. The men, who are both Kurdish Iraqis, are now due to appear at the Old Bailey in London on January 19.
A 36-year-old man from Burngreave in Sheffield also remains in custody, while a 41-year-old, from Meersbrook in the city, has been released, say police.