Terror threat to London landmarks?

A London newspaper, the 'Daily Star', has claimed terrorists could be planning strikes on London's top tourist hotspots. The newspaper has quoted sources in security agencies on details of a possible terror strike that sounds very similar to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Terrorists are planning devastating summer strikes on London's top tourist hotspots by sending boats packed with explosives down the Thames. River police have been put on red alert for Islamic fanatics.

The Houses of Parliament, the London Eye and Canary Wharf figure among more than 100 "key site vulnerabilities" all thought to be under threat, security sources have told the 'Daily Star'.

The Met's Marine Support Unit has responded to the menace by stopping and searching scores of boats under counter-terror laws.

"Protecting London from terrorists is now our primary objective. There are a number of high-profile buildings like the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye that could be targeted at any time," said Sergeant Mark Spurgeon.

"We are stepping up patrols on the Thames and stopping and searching boats for weapons and suspicious packages," he added.

River security in the UK has tightened since gunmen slipped into Mumbai, India, by boat and killed more than 100 people.

"Mumbai showed just how easy it is for terrorists to use boats to aid coordinated attacks. The vessels were used to get into the city but they could just as easily launch an attack from the boats," said one intelligence insider.

Preventing attacks is not the only -responsibility of the unit - as the Daily Star Sunday discovered when it joined the team for a routine patrol.

It also has the grim task of plucking bodies and murder weapons from the Thames and its banks.

Sgt Spurgeon has recovered 36 bodies during his six-year river stint. But he's rescued several more, including people trying to commit suicide.

"It's tough trying to rescue someone who wants to be left to drown. Sometimes it can be a real struggle and we have to deal with drugged-up mentally ill people who are trying to kill themselves," he said.

Sometimes their job is heartbreaking. Robin Locker had to pull out a two-year-old boy who'd drowned in a Thames-linked canal after wriggling through a gap in a fence.

"We have to recover a lot of bodies so you learn to detach yourself emotionally. But when it's a tiny child of two it's hard to take. I still have horrible flashbacks to that day," he said.

Another of their duties involves raiding vessels for drugs and dealing with brawls on party boats.

Earlier in 2009, they stopped a Caribbean cargo ship near the Thames barrier and seized £150,000 of cannabis attached to its hull. They also teamed up with Met officers for a drugs raid on a waterfront café in Paddington.

Sgt Spurgeon, who was involved in the bust, said: "I think people get the impression that we just chug along the river stopping boats -randomly because we've nothing else to do.

However, that's far from the case. There's a lot of hard work involved in this unit and a lot of important jobs to do to protect the public.