FIVE people were arrested by police yesterday in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham and hold her hostage for a £5m ransom.

Scotland Yard said four east European men and one woman had been arrested in connection with a suspected conspiracy to snatch the former Spice Girl, wife of David Beckham.

They were held in two separate raids on a hotel car park in London’s Docklands and a house in Morden, Surrey. Police with automatic weapons swooped on three men as they went to examine the contents of the boot of a car at the hotel. The five are believed to include Romanians and Albanians.

The Yard’s serious and organised crime command (SO7) was last night questioning all five at police stations in London over allegations of conspiracy to kidnap and theft.

The News of the World said one of its reporters had infiltrated the gang and then tipped off the Yard. The reporter was to be the getaway driver in an ambush outside the Beckhams’ Hertfordshire home in which Victoria would be sedated with a chemical spray and taken to a house in Brixton, south London, where she would be held until a ransom was paid.

One of the gang is alleged to have told the reporter: “If the kids are with her, it’s even better. We ask David Beckham for £5m. It’s 100% he pays. But if something happens and he don’t pay, Victoria is going to die.”

The Beckhams have increased security since a previous plot to snatch Victoria and their son Brooklyn when he was a baby.

The couple, who are worth more than £35m, have received death threats and a man was arrested on suspicion of cutting brake pipes on one of their cars.

The Beckhams were also involved in a dramatic scene while Christmas shopping in Knightsbridge, London, in December, 1999. Victoria Beckham thought an incident involving a man aggressively demanding a photograph was an attempt to take Brooklyn.

The latest kidnap plot is believed to have been a carbon copy of a £1m plot to seize Victoria and Brooklyn while David Beckham was playing football for England against Scotland at Wembley in November, 1999.

Officers were said to have been so worried that they moved the family to a safe house in the countryside for 48 hours. It was believed that an underworld crime figure planned to grab the pair and drive them to a house in an exclusive part of Hampstead, northwest London, before a ransom demand was made.

Victoria Beckham was told of yesterday’s developments before watching her husband play at Old Trafford in Manchester United’s 2-1 victory over Southampton. The newspaper had contacted her mother, who broke the news to her daughter.

But Victoria kept the news to herself as she took a seat in the stands and both her husband and Manchester United were oblivious to the alleged conspiracy before the match.

She said last night: “It’s terrifying to think that someone would want to do that to you and your children.”

Ted Beckham, the footballer’s father, spoke of the “sick and horrible” people who allegedly plotted the kidnap. “David’s first thoughts will obviously be for Victoria but also for the safety of the two boys,” he said. “There are some pretty sick and horrible people in this world.”

The Beckhams have tightened security because of kidnap fears after the birth of their son Romeo this summer. They employed four ex-SAS men and a woman army veteran as bodyguards at a cost of £850 a day and Beckham has spent £160,000 on a bullet-proof Mercedes to keep his family safe.

David Beckham is also seeking planning permission for a helipad because he wants to be able to spend more time at home and does not like being kept away after night matches.

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