Balkans blow-back in Britain. (Insider Report).

It sounds like the plot of a bad made-for-television movie: Acting on a tip from tabloid reporters who had infiltrated an art theft ring, Scotland Yard foils a plot to kidnap a pop star and extort a five million pound ransom from her soccer star husband. This is the improbable scenario that played out in England over the weekend of November 2nd-3rd.

In a November 3rd raid, Scotland Yard nabbed nine people accused of conspiring to kidnap Victoria Beckham, formerly known as "Posh Spice" of the British pop group the Spice Girls. According to the police, the suspects planned to invade Beckham's home, sedate her with a chemical spray, and hold her for ransom at a location in Brixton, South London. The would-be kidnappers also planned to abduct, if possible, the famous couple's two young sons -- three-year-old Brooklyn and newborn Romeo. Apart from the celebrity angle, what makes this thwarted kidnapping noteworthy is that it underscores the growing strength of Balkans crime syndicates in Britain.

Several of the suspects in the Beckham conspiracy are from Romania, and at least one is Albanian. Tony Blair's socialist Labour government eagerly supported the 1999 NATO bombing ...