By IRNA,
London : Britain’s most senior counterterrorism officer was forced to resign Thursday just hours after embarrassing security led to a ‘D-notice’ censorship of the press and for the police to hastily arrest several terror suspects.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, who chairs the Metropolitan Police Authority, said he had accepted the resignation of Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick with “great reluctance and sadness” but insisted he did not pressure him to quit.
“In the end Bob Quick decided it was the best thing to do. It’s matter of sadness and he had a very, very distinguished career in counter terrorism,” said Johnson, who previously dismissed Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair.
“I want to stress there was no effort to get him out,” he said in an interview with BBC Radio Four’s Today current affairs programme.
The assistant commissioner was filmed holding secret briefing document in open view ahead of holding a meeting with the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
An immediate D-notice was issued to the press to prevent the publication of details on the documents, which reportedly set out the strategy to smash an alleged terrorist cell based in north-west England that was thought to have been plotting an attack in Britain.
Following the leak, police carried out raids on 10 addresses in the north-west of England and arrested 12 men, including 10 who were said to be Pakistani nationals on student visas.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said Quick, who was also embroiled in sanctioning last year’s controversial arrest of the shadow immigration minister, Damian Green, felt his position was “untenable.”
“Sir Paul Stephenson has informed me that Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick has offered his resignation following the publication of certain photographs yesterday,” Smith said.
The men detained included at John Moores University in Liverpool, an internet cafe and a house in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester, as well as at addresses in Lancashire, are suspected of involvement in an al-Qaida plot to attack the UK, according to press reports.