Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Danish police arrested three suspects in an alleged plot to murder one of a dozen cartoonists whose caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 sparked riots in Muslim communities around the world.

Denmark's Security and Intelligence Service, PET, detained two Tunisians and a 40-year old Danish citizen with a Moroccan background at 4:30 a.m. local time today in Aarhus, where Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that commissioned the cartoons, is based.

``The purpose of the clampdown was to prevent a terror- related homicide,'' PET chief Jakob Scharf said in an e-mailed statement. ``The clampdown occurred after a long period of surveillance.''

The detainees are suspected of planning to kill Kurt Westergaard, who in September 2005 provided the newspaper with a cartoon of Muhammad wearing a bomb in his turban. Protests prompted by publication of the cartoons included consumer boycotts of Danish goods and the torching of Danish embassies.

``I fear for my life, when the police tell me there are certain people who are working with concrete plans to kill me,'' Jyllands-Posten cited Westergaard as saying today. ``I think the aftermath of this insane reaction will last as long as I live. It's sad, but those are the terms under which I now live.''

Police Protection

Westergaard, 73, has been under police protection since receiving death threats after the drawings were published, according to Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief, Carsten Juste. The newspaper has received bomb threats and its journalists have been subjected to ``countless death threats,'' Juste told broadcaster TV2 today.

``This doesn't change in any way my perception that we need to work against dark forces that want to fight against freedom of speech,'' Juste said.

The Tunisians will face ``extradition because they must be seen as posing danger to the security of the state,'' Scharf said. ``PET wished to take no unnecessary risks and therefore decided to intervene at an early stage to disrupt the planning of the murder.''

Because the arrests were made at an early stage, PET doesn't expect that police will keep the suspects arrested pending trial, Scharf said.

The suspects planned to kill Westergaard in his home, Jyllands-Posten said. Westergaard was first informed of the plot by PET in November and has since moved several times, including to addresses outside Denmark, he told TV2 in an interview.

`Out of Control'

``We have warned that the situation could get out of control,'' Kasem Said Ahmad, a spokesman for a Muslim organization, the Islamic Community in Denmark, told TV2. ``We want a decent tone between Muslims and Danes. But we maintain our view that the cartoons were provocative.''

Lene Espersen, the Nordic country's justice minister, said in an e-mail that PET had briefed her of the arrests. ``It's clear that suspicion of such a serious act causes deep concern.''

The European Union should create a fund for financing the protection of Europeans, who are being threatened for fighting for freedom of expression, Karin Riis-Jorgensen, member of the EU parliament for Denmark's Liberal party, said today in an e-mail. Riis-Jorgensen said the fund should also protect former Dutch parliament member Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who made a film criticizing Islam's treatment of women, which in 2004 sparked the murder of director Theo van Gogh.

Royal Library

Denmark's Royal Library on Jan. 30 said it was in talks to acquire the 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. The library said it would treat the cartoons as it does the books in its collection, and would allow patrons to sign to view them.

``It would be natural for us to have them at the Royal Library,'' Jytte Kjaergaard, a spokeswoman for the Copenhagen- based institution, said then. ``We don't perceive them as works of art. We don't have any view on their substance or content. Our view is that they hold a place in our cultural heritage. The cartoons have become a part of Danish history.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Tasneem Brogger in Copenhagen at tbrogger@bloomberg.net; Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 12, 2008 07:46 EST