Met chief: we will stop and search Muslims

Britain's top police officer today backed controversial comments by a government minister over the disproportionate targeting of Muslims under stop and search powers.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said Home Office minister Hazel Blears had been right to say it was the "reality" that Muslims were more likely to be stopped and searched.

The comments, which she made during the Home Affairs Select Committee's inquiry into the impact of anti-terror powers on community relations, prompted a backlash from Muslim leaders. Sir Ian also said he agreed with Prime Minister Tony Blair's assessment that there were "hundreds" of people in the UK plotting to commit terrorist acts.

He said there were "very many" people who had returned from terrorist training camps in Afghanistan who posed a threat.

Asked if he agreed with Ms Blears' comments, Sir Ian told LBC Radio: "I do actually - I think Hazel's right to say it. I've said something similar in the past.

"The terrorism regulations around stop and search do not require individual suspicion, they are more akin to searches around an airport.

"About seven or eight years ago there was a fuss when a City of London police officer stopped John Sentamu, the Bishop of Stepney at the time, a black bishop, in their ring of steel against the IRA.

"Everyone said: 'How can you stop a black man when you are looking for the IRA?' Well, the same argument runs around people of an Asian appearance, particularly in the Government security zone at 3am driving a van - they are going to get stopped."

Figures published last week showed blacks and Asians were increasingly likely to be targeted by stop and search.

However, Sir Ian said the rise equated to about three more people being stopped in London a day which, he said, was "not a huge rise".

He added: "While I'm very concerned about the Muslim community's sense of belonging, we do have to accept that there are people in that communitywho are - misguidedlyand in conflict with the values of Islam - prepared to use violence against the UK. There would be a greater outcry if we did absolutely nothing and part of London disappeared in smoke."

At the select committee meeting on Tuesday, Ms Blears said: "The threat is most likely to come from those people associated with an extreme form of Islam."

Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said her comments would be "music to the ears of racists".