Three charged after 'Brown death plot' questioning

Three men questioned about an alleged plot to assassinate Gordon Brown were tonight charged with terror offences, Lancashire Police said.

The men were arrested at Manchester Airport and Accrington, Lancashire, on 14 August.

Ishaq Kanmi, 22, of Cromwell Street, Blackburn, is charged with soliciting murder, belonging or professing to belong to al-Qa'ida, inviting support for al-Qa'ida, and dissemination of terrorist publications.

Brothers Abbas Iqbal, 23, and Ilyas Iqbal, 21, both of Percival Street, Blackburn, are both charged with possession of an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

Abbas Iqbal is also charged with dissemination of terrorist publications.

Ilyas Iqbal is also charged with collecting or making a record of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

Police sources indicated tonight that the charge of soliciting murder referred to an alleged plot to murder the Prime Minister.

The men will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow.

Police are continuing to question two other men in relation to the alleged assassination plot.

It is understood no actual plot was in place but that officers discovered a written threat on an extremist jihadi website earlier this year.

A fourth man, a 24-year-old white Muslim convert, was arrested in Blackburn on Tuesday.

A fifth man, a 29-year-old thought to be Eastern European, was held in Derby early yesterday.

Lancashire Police and Greater Manchester Police's Counter Terrorism Unit were granted an additional seven days to question them yesterday.