Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair is asking for an extra $269 million a year to fund hundreds of extra detectives and marksmen. Government ministers and officials have already been approached by the force regarding the additional cash.

Police sources told the Times of London Monday that the force wants an extra 500 officers for S013, the counter-terrorism branch. The unit expanded to 345 following the September 11 attacks.

Scotland Yard also wants to recruit several hundred marksmen for CO19, the central firearms unit, bringing the number of officers to over 600.

The force is currently spending an extra $898,000 a day on investigations into the July bombings and protecting potential targets. It is estimated that since July 7 the anti-terror effort has cost the Metropolitan Police an additional $40 million, over a third of its $110 million counter-terrorism budget for this financial year.

As many as 1,000 detectives have been working on the terror investigations; at one point last month 150 detectives were borrowed from other forces. Firearms squads have been on 24 hour call and are sleeping at their headquarters in central London.

Scotland Yard wants to increase the number of authorized firearms officers to relieve pressure on the squads, and is already looking into additional training facilities for recruits. It has already had to divert officers from other duties and put some investigations on hold.

Tarique Ghaffur, the assistant commissioner in charge of operations including murder inquiries, said in July that he had lost between 300 and 470 officers to counter-terrorism, warning of "long-term implications" for crime-fighting if other units continued to be drained of manpower.

One senior officer said: " We are too stretched."

Meanwhile the Metropolitan Police is furious at having to provide 4,000 officers to police Europe's largest arms fair, the Defense Systems and Equipment International, to be held in London next month.

The force is planning to ask the Home Office to change regulations to force the exhibitors to pay for external policing or ask the Ministry of Defense, which jointly organizes the conference, to cover the costs.

Assistant Commissioner Steve House, head of the Met's central operations, which includes the firearms unit, criticized exhibitors for refusing to pay for their protection from anti-arms demonstrators.

He told the Independent newspaper the fair was "denuding London of policing at a time of unprecedented demand.

"The defense industry makes huge profits. I think we should be getting some money from people exhibiting inside the center. At the moment the taxpayers are having to pay.

"I don't think it looks right or is right."

Hundreds of peace campaigners are expected to protest outside the four-day conference beginning Sept. 13, at which around 1,200 arms manufacturers will exhibit.

Scotland Yard estimated that policing the event would cost the taxpayer 4m.

Sir Ian Blair has repeatedly warned that a third attack on the capital is likely. However despite such fears officials have lowered the level of terror threat from "critical" to "severe general," it emerged Monday.

The threat was lowered - for the first time since the July 7 bombings which killed 56 people - because of a lack of specific information relating to imminent attacks.

The decision was made on Thursday by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center. However a separate alert level, which governs how transport systems and buildings are guarded, remains unchanged.

Around 6000 officers are currently being deployed in the capital every week, most of whom are supplied by the Metropolitan Police.

A spokesperson for Scotland Yard told United Press International that it could not yet confirm reports it was seeking extra cash.

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