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| Britain | |
| UK police get more time to quiz terror suspects | |
| 2009-04-13 | |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] British police were granted Saturday a further week to question 11 men arrested over an alleged al-Qaeda-driven major terrorist plot, while one was released without charge, British police said. Twelve men, among them 11 Pakistani nationals -- 10 in Britain on student visas -- and a Briton were arrested in raids across northwest England on Wednesday. "The North West Counter Terrorism Unit was last night given warrants for the further detention of 11 men arrested," a Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said. Suspects held in custody An 18-year-old arrested in connection with the alleged plot was released without charge in relation to the anti-terror operation but is now in the custody of the U.K. Border Agency, which regulates immigration and can investigate the status of those entering Britain. The men, still held by police, are in custody in various locations across Britain. They range in age from 22 to 41, and can be held without charge for up to 28 days. Anti-terror police are still searching 10 addresses in the cities of Manchester and Liverpool as part of the probe. A delay in the raid Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the case involved a "very big terrorist plot" that security officials had been tracking for some time. The raids had to be brought forward because of a security blunder by Britain's top counter-terrorism officer, Bob Quick, who was photographed carrying a secret document on the operation that said the alleged plot was "AQ-driven," meaning al-Qaeda. He resigned Thursday over the security breach. Diplomatic spat
Brown told the media that two-thirds of the terror plots investigated in Britain originated from Pakistan. "Pakistan has got the problems of . . . groups of terrorists in their country operating from their country," he said. "We need all the cooperation that we have with the Pakistani authorities to deal with these problems." Pakistan fights back Most terrorism plots in Britain since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, have had links to Pakistan, including suicide bombings which killed 52 people on London's underground and bus network in July 2005. Pakistan's top diplomat in Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said Friday Pakistani authorities could help carry out background checks on student visa applicants but were not allowed to. "It is at your end, you have to do something more," Hasan told BBC television. Though 10 of the 12 arrested were in Britain on student visas, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas insisted checks on applicants to weed out extremists were adequate. Britain has been on high security alert ever since the July 2005 attacks on the London transport system, which killed 56 people including four suicide bombers. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Is Gordon Brown a genius, or what? /sarc |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-04-13 15:27 |