| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Extremists are 'taken off streets' for minor crimes |
| 2002-09-06 |
| About 20 âhardcoreâ Islamic extremists who are living in Britain and suspected of supporting al-Qaeda have been arrested on minor charges unrelated to terrorism in recent months to take them âoff the streetsâ. The men, which include British nationals, were among several dozen suspects subjected to round-the-clock surveillance by MI5 and Special Branch. They were picked up for offences from credit-card fraud to driving without insurance that were uncovered in the course of that operation. âEven if it means some of them are off the streets only for a few months it will help,â security sources said. The security services first developed the technique in the 1970s and 1980s for use against suspected IRA terrorists. Guess if you're gonna be a terrorist you'd better be well behaved... Those now under surveillance, said to be fewer than 50 in all, have been identified as being âactively engaged in extremist causes without breaking the lawâ. The individuals subjected to these measures are in addition to 11 others, perceived to be the most dangerous, who have been detained without charge using special powers under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, which came into force in December. It covers only foreigners. Those still detained are believed to include Algerians and Egyptians.Nine of the 11 are still in custody â eight at the top security Belmarsh prison in South London and one in Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Only one in the loop-loop factory? Seems like there'd be room for more. Probably our definition of "loopy" is still too tight. We wouldn't want to make it as loose as the Sovs used to define it, but I'd think the strong desire to kill people because they don't wear turbans would be about right... The other two took up the offer available to all to leave the country. "Get the hell out and don't come back..." It was also disclosed yesterday that the number of Britons now being held by the Americans at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has risen to 13. They include several from the West Midlands. The official total had been put at seven, but the numbers have been âcreeping upâ in recent months as more Britons were identified. What'd they do? Convert? Evidence from documents seized in Afghanistan, and from interrogation of foreign al-Qaeda fighters detained at Guantanamo Bay, have helped MI5 to uncover the terrorist tentacles that lead back to Britain. Sources said that up to 700 people living in the United Kingdom, many of them British nationals, are known to have undergone some form of training at terrorist camps in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen over the past four or five years. The majority would not have been trained as fully fledged terrorists, but they would have mixed with foreign nationals, some of them directly involved with al-Qaeda and others linked to similar Islamic extremist causes. "Not trained as full fledged terrorists" means they got rudimentary small arms and explosives training, and got to attend Islamist pep rallies a couple times a day... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |