Pc charged after probe into 'false' claims of kidnap plot

A police officer and two other men have been charged with conspiracy offences after an inquiry into "false and malicious" claims of a kidnap plot.

Pc Amar Tasaddiq Hussain, 29, was charged by West Midlands Police with two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

Adil Bashir, 25, and 30-year-old Muhammad Sheikh, both from Birmingham, have also been charged with the same four offences, a police spokesman said.

Hussain, who is based in Birmingham, has been suspended from duty with immediate effect.

He has been bailed to appear at Cannock Magistrates' Court next month alongside Bashir, who is unemployed and from Small Heath, and Sheikh, a self-employed tutor from Bordesley Green.

The charges follow an investigation into information given to West Midlands Police on December 8 last year in which it was claimed an officer was to be kidnapped as part of a terrorist plot.

Officers were called in for special overnight briefings and advised not to come to work or go off shift in uniform after the threat was judged to be credible.

A 31-year-old man arrested on the day of the alert was eliminated from inquiries and has since been deported.

The subsequent investigation was led by officers from West Midland Police's Anti-Corruption Unit with support from the region's Counter Terrorism Unit.