A QUICK EXIT; Terror cop quits day after file blunder.

Byline: Kevin Schofield

BUNGLING anti-terror cop Bob Quick quit in disgrace yesterday - just hours after he endangered a major operation to smash a suspected al-Qaeda murder plot.

But the pain of his resignation will be softened by a pounds 110,000-a-year, index-linked pension.

Quick, Britain's highest-ranking anti-terrorist officer, walked into 10 Downing Street holding a secret document about the alleged plot in full view of photographers.

Government officials quickly asked news organisations not to print photos of the briefing paper.

But details of the police operation were soon posted on the internet and seen around the world and detectives tracking the suspected terrorists had to hurriedly arrest their targets earlier than planned.

Disruption

Twelve people were held in a series of raids, which followed weeks of surveillance by MI5.

Ten were Pakistani nationals living in Britain on student visas, while another was born in the UK.

Suspects were held in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe, Lancashire.

One arrest took place outside a university library. Two other suspects were held at a branch of Homebase, where they were security guards.

Police denied reports that there had been a plot to attack Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium or the Trafford shopping centre in the city.

Quick, 49, said in a statement: "My action could have compromised a major operation.

"I deeply regret the disruption caused to colleagues undertaking the operation and remain grateful for the way in which they adapted quickly and professionally to a revised timescale."

Quick has been replaced as head of Scotland Yard's specialist operations wing by assistant commissioner John Yates, who led the inquiry into the "cash for honours" scandal which blighted the final months of Tony Blair's premiership.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed that Quick had apologised to him personally for his blunder.

But he chose to focus most of his remarks on the police operation itself, saying: "We are dealing with a very big terrorist plot.

"We have been following it for some time. There were a number of people who are suspected of it who have been arrested. That police operation was successful."

Brown added: "We know there are links between terrorists in Britain and Pakistan and that is an important issue for us to follow through."

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said: "I hold Bob in the highest regard as a friend and colleague. He has accepted that he made a serious error."

CAPTION(S):

BLUNDER: Quick at Downing Street