 U.K. police arrested four men under anti-terrorism laws in Birmingham, central England, in connection with the July 21 attempted bombings on three London Underground subway trains and a bus.
The four were detained at two locations in the city, West Midlands police said in an e-mailed statement. A suspect package was found at one address, forcing precautionary evacuations, and forensic tests were under way at both places. A controlled explosion will be carried out at the site of the package, a police spokeswoman said in a telephone interview.
"Bring up the robots, Nigel!"
"They say they don't want to come, sir! 'At thing looks dangerous!" |
The four bombs injured no one when they partially detonated in last week's attacks, two weeks to the day after four suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing 52 passengers in attacks that also targeted three subway trains and a bus. The four would-be July 21 bombers bravely fled the scenes and are being sought.
| Wait a minute... If they're still being sought, who're these guys? |
Police the next day issued security camera images of the four suspects, and this week identified two of them. The two sets of attacks triggered what police have described as Britain's biggest ever investigation.
"Titus Oates? A piker!"
"Guy Fawkes? Nuttin'!"
"Jack the Ripper? A flash in the pan!" |
U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday he favors giving police expanded powers to detain terrorist suspects beyond the 14 days allowed under current laws.
| Fox News just said one of the four being sought was arrested, but as our troll pointed out yesterday, they're probably lying... |
Police used a Taser stun gun to subdue one of the men, in Hay Mills, southeast Birmingham.
"Zap him, Alistair!"
[Bzdeeep!]
"Ngggggg!" | |
He was taken to London for questioning. The man may be one of the bombing suspects, the British Broadcasting Corp. said, citing security officials.
| Guess that's why they zapped him. He's prob'ly the one Fox was talking about... |
The three other men were arrested in Birmingham's Washwood Heath district, and were being held by West Midlands Police. Two other men were arrested under anti-terrorism laws late yesterday at Grantham rail station, north of London, Lincolnshire Police said in a statement on their Web site. The two men were traveling from Newcastle, to London's King's Cross station. Police didn't say whether the arrests were linked to the bombings and attempted attacks.
"And where are you gents going?"
"London's King's Cross station, copper! What's it to ya?"
"Stick 'em up!" |
The U.K.'s Association of Chief Police Officers has asked for powers to hold terrorism suspects for three months instead of the current 14 days, saying it is hard to gather enough evidence in two weeks to make charges stick.
| I'm getting the impression that's more a problem with the courts' rules of evidence than it is with the competence of the investigators. We've got something of the same problem here, and it seems rather worse on the continent... |
The U.K.'s top police chief, Ian Blair, yesterday said in an interview with Channel Four news that the proposed changes to detention powers should have judicial oversight, with police being able to ask for extensions every 14 days up to a maximum of three months. This would allow police time to crack encryption codes on computers and to analyze other evidence they already held in some cases, he said.
Before today, detectives investigating the July 21 attacks held five men, all arrested in London. Ian Blair said yesterday none of those was among bombing suspects whose pictures had been made public. Police two days ago named two of the suspects as Muktar Said Ibrahim, a 27-year-old man of Eritrean origin also known as Muktar Mohammed Said, and Yasin Hassan Omar, a 24-year-old originally from Somalia. Both men had U.K. residency, and Said Ibrahim last year became a British citizen.
| I'm sure the Queen is very happy to number him among her subjects... |
Another man, Jean Charles de Menezes, a 27-year-old Brazilian electrician, was shot dead on July 22 by police after they mistakenly identified him as a suspect. He was killed in front of subway passengers at Stockwell. Ian Blair and the prime minister have both defended the shoot-to-kill policy when dealing with suicide bombing suspects. The policy was introduced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, with police instructed to shoot to the head rather than to the body, as before. ``I know there have been 250 incidents since July 7 where we have considered whether we are seeing a suicide bomber,'' Blair told Channel Four. On each of seven occasions, police came close to shooting the suspect, he indicated through a gesture. |