UK tabloid News of the World discovers plot against "Posh Spice" Victoria Beckham:

Police arrested five people Saturday for allegedly plotting to kidnap Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, Scotland Yard said.

Police said officers had arrested four men and one woman they believed were part of the conspiracy to kidnap Beckham - whose husband is England soccer captain David Beckham - after the News of the World tabloid tipped them off.

While Scotland Yard did not officially say that Victoria Beckham, Posh Spice in the band the Spice Girls, was the plotters' intended victim, a police spokeswoman privately confirmed she was.

"A team of undercover News of the World reporters infiltrated a gang of Europeans who were conspiring to kidnap Victoria Beckham," said Hayley Barlow, a newspaper spokeswoman. "We've been working on this investigation for several months and working with the police led to the arrests today."

Barlow declined to discuss details of the plot or the investigation or to say how advanced the conspiracy appeared to be.

Stuart Kuttner, the paper's managing editor, told the British Broadcasting Corp. the kidnappers had carefully checked out the location where they planned to strike - he did not say where it was - and considered snatching the Beckhams' two sons along with their mother.

He said the gang, made up of Romanians and Albanians, had planned to hold Victoria Beckham and possibly her children and demand 5 million pounds (US $7.8 million) ransom. Kuttner added that several of his reporters had infiltrated the gang.

Victoria Beckham gave birth in September to the couple's second child, a boy named Romeo. Her husband, who plays for England's national soccer team and Manchester United, is one of Britain's biggest sports stars and the Beckhams are among the country's most popular celebrities.