Shades of Tawana Brawley....

Rememeber that case - well, here's a new version of the old false allegation...

A Muslim community leader who claimed he was kidnapped from his home at knifepoint and dumped in woodland after a BNP hate campaign has been arrested for perverting the course of justice.

Noor Ramjanally, 36, alleged that he was abducted by two men, bundled into a car boot, driven to Epping Forest in Essex and ordered to stop his religious work.

The BNP had been accused of whipping up racial tensions in the area after it issued an inflammatory leaflet about Mr Ramjanally's Islamic community group - the first in Loughton.

His alleged ordeal became a cause celebre among the Muslim community both locally and nationally after it was reported in the national press.

But today, Mr Ramjanally was, himself, arrested amid suggestions that he made the whole incident up.

An Essex Police spokesman said: "A man has been arrested in connection with an ongoing police investigation into an alleged abduction in west Essex.

"Police were contacted on Monday August 24 by a man who stated that he had been abducted from his home in the Valley Hill area of Loughton.

"On Thursday September 3, police arrested a 36 year-old man from the town on suspicion of perverting the course of justice."