A crisis meeting between police chiefs and local religious leaders has been held after the discovery of bomb-making equipment in a patch of woodland close to Croydon Synagogue. Police confirmed last week, after a BBC Newsnight report, that they had discovered a number of items which has aroused fears of extremist violence breaking out in Croydon.

On Monday morning at Croydon police station, in a meeting chaired by Chief Superintendent Mark Gore, representatives from Muslim and Jewish communities, Croydon Council and Croydon Mosque and Islamic Centre met to discuss the investigation. It follows confirmation from police that items were found in woodland off Shirley Oaks Road on November 4 and November 11. The land is opposite Croydon Synagogue and the items were said to include equipment that could be used to make petrol bombs.

The meeting came after a BBC report claimed the radical Islamic group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, were distributing leaflets outside Croydon Mosque and Islamic Centre in an attempt to recruit new members. A source in the group told Newsnight that they had uncovered a plot by Hizb ut-Tahrir’s members to attack the synagogue.

Croydon Guardian, 27 November 2006

Update:  See “BBC Newsnight and File on 4 misled public in their allegations about Hizb ut-Tahrir”, Islamophobia Watch, 1 August 2007