UK's 'Bobbies' have al-Qaeda links: report

A media report has claimed that there are up to eight people in the British police force who are suspected of having links with extremist groups such as al Qaeda.

Up to eight people, suspected of having links with extremist groups such as al-Qaeda, are working in Britain's police service, a media report claimed today.

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Citing an intelligence service file, the Daily Mail said the serving officers, believed to have attended training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan. They figure on a secret list drawn up by Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5 in the aftermath of 7/7 terror attacks in London, it said.

However, many of them have not been sacked because the police do not have the legal power to dismiss them, it said.

Instead, the suspected staff are unofficially barred from working in sensitive posts and are clsoely monitored, the report adds, identifying "political correctness" as the reason for not sacking them.