The 2007 plot to behead a British Muslim soldier was a plot in Birmingham, England, to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier in order to undermine the morale of the British Army and inhibit its recruitment of Muslims. The instigator, Parviz Khan, admitted the plot and was sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve at least 14 years. Another of the accused was found guilty of failing to report the plot and four others were sentenced to up to seven years for supplying equipment to Pakistan-based militants fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan. Plot Shortly after the arrests, reports appeared in a number of newspapers with details of the plot, citing unnamed security sources. According to the newspaper reports, the plot involved kidnapping a British Muslim soldier and taking him either to a run-down house in Leatherhead Close, Aston, Birmingham, believed to be owned by the wife of suspect Zahoor Iqbal or a safe house in Tipton, nine miles from Birmingham. There, he would be blindfolded, handcuffed, made to demand the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and then killed. A video of this would be released on the Internet. On a password-protected Internet forum affiliated with Al-Qaeda, the plotters were told: "It is preferable if you photograph or video the operation so that it can have a bigger set of viewers and can be used by the media." Some newspaper reports also said that the group spent months compiling a hit list of 25 potential targets. Four people were separately accused of supplying equipment on four occasions to Pakistan-based militants fighting the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. They had used the 2005 Kashmir earthquake as a cover to ship anglers' gloves used by snipers, sleeping bags, boots, waterproof map holders, laser rangefinders, anti-bugging equipment, video cameras and mobile phones. Arrests For six months, British police forces and intelligence agencies, under the codename Operation Gamble, had been investigating the plot. They had hoped to investigate for another two months before making arrests, but when one of the suspects purchased a video camera it was feared that this was done in preparation for the kidnapping, so the police brought forward their decision to make the arrests. On January 31, 2007, just before 4:00 am, more than 700 police officers raided eight homes and four businesses, including a corner store, two Islamic bookstores and an internet café. Eight men were arrested then, with