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Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism chief resigned from the force today after an elementary blunder which almost blew a huge police operation against a suspected al-Qaeda cell in the UK.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick said that he "deeply regretted" having jeopardised co-ordinated raids in the North West which were planned for the early hours of this morning but had to be brought forward and carried out in broad daylight yesterday afternoon.

Twelve people were arrested, including 10 Pakistani nationals on student visas and one Briton, at eight addresses across Manchester and Merseyside after a long covert surveillance operation involving both police and MI5.

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Mr Quick's error was momentary but potentially disastrous. As he arrived at 10 Downing Street yesterday to brief Gordon Brown on the raids he was carrying under his arm a document marked "Secret" which detailed the broad lines of the operation.

The document, in a transparent plastic folder, was only visible for about a second as Mr Quick climbed down from his vehicle. But that was more than enough time for the powerful telephoto lenses behind the press barricades across the road.

The document revealed how many terrorist suspects were to be arrested and in which cities across the North West. It revealed that armed members of the Greater Manchester Police would force entry into a number of homes and included the operation's secret codename.

As soon as the photograph was published, Scotland Yard and MI5 moved to quash its publication via a rare D-notice slapped on media organisations. The picture had already been sent to newspapers and magazines abroad, however, where the D-notice system carries no weight, and it was clear that the operation had been put at risk.

In his resignation statement this morning, Mr Quick said: "Last evening I contacted the Metropolitan Police Authority to inform them of my intention to offer my resignation.

"I have today offered my resignation in the knowledge that my action could have compromised a major counter-terrorism 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."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that Mr Quick had resigned not just from his job but from the force, which he joined in 1978.

He will be replaced by Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who has no direct counter-terrorist experience but is considered one of Scotland Yard's strongest operational leaders. Mr Yates led the Met's cash-for-honours investigation in the last years of Tony Blair's premiership.

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