China has uncovered an apparent plot by a Muslim terror ring to kidnap athletes and other visitors to the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

Beijing just last month gave warning that it had found evidence of terrorists in its Xinjiang region who were planning attacks on the summer Games. Officials also averted an attempt by an ethnic minority Uighur woman from Xinjiang to bomb an airliner en route to Beijing.

Wu Heping, spokesman for the Ministry of Public Security, said 35 people had been arrested between March 26 and April 6 for plotting to kidnap athletes, foreign journalists and other visitors to the Olympics.

A second similar terrorist group with 10 members had also been cracked and police had seized explosives and firearms.

Commanders of the powerful paramilitary People’s Armed Police have issued a call to their forces to guarantee domestic stability during the Olympics.

“Make fighting terrorism and all aspects of Olympics security the most important task of all,” the People’s Armed Police News reported today, citing a meeting of commanders this week.

“Ensuring internal security and stability is an important task for fulfilling Olympics security work.”

International security experts began in recent months to focus on internal reports in China of a rising terrorist threat – in particular targeting the Olympics – in the Xinjiang region where a low-level insurgency has been simmering for decades, The Times has learnt.