Supermarkets on terror alert

by HUGH DOUGHERTY, Evening Standard

Supermarkets are on full-scale terror alert today after being warned they are "a very attractive target", MI5 has revealed.

Britain's biggest retailers have been given advice in secret talks with the security services, said MI5 director-general Elizabeth Manningham-Buller.

Every part of the British food industry, including factories and distributors, have been spoken to by police in an attempt to prevent terrorist poison plots.

Fears that al Qaeda could target supermarkets were revealed by Ms Manningham-Buller. In an unprecedented speech she lifted the veil of secrecy on preparations to counter a possible attack by Osama bin Laden's terror network.

The spy chief said a series of industries had been warned that they had to protect themselves from terrorists who might use them to cause mass casualties and spread panic.

Sectors such as communications, transport, fuel and energy supplies have been given security advice by MI5 and Special Branch for many years in the face of a threat from the IRA.

But Ms Manningham-Buller has disclosed that the food sector is now being given help in preparing for potential attack for the first time. "The changed nature of the threat has meant that we need to extend that advice to new sectors such as the chemical and food industry which today may present a very attractive target for terrorists," she said.

She added: "The threats of chemical, biological, radiological and suicide attacks require new responses and the Government alone cannot achieve all of this - industry and the public need to take greater responsibility."

The Food and Drink Federation said it had been in talks with the secret services but had no specific warnings of a threat to the public.

MI5's alert came as Ms Manningham-Buller came out of the shadows to tell Britain it must expect a long war against al Qaeda.

In a speech to City of London Police, she said: "The effort to defeat Islamist terrorism is going to be a long haul. The threat is present here in the UK and is also directed at us overseas."

Most watched News videos