Western Resistance

« Germany: Priest Accused Of Assisting Islamist Prisoner | | Pakistan: Islamist's House Arrest May Thaw Frosty Indian Relations »

August 10, 2006

UK: The Muslim Terror Suspects - Mostly Middle Class

More details have emerged about the raids which happened overnight at addresses in Birmingham, High Wycombe and east London, connected with a plot to blow up transatlantic planes. The Times states that 13 raids took place in all, and 24 people were apprehended.

High Wycombe Raids

At least four people were arrested in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire a commuter town to the west of London, though the number may now be five. One of those detained was a son of a former worker for the Tory party. According to neighbours, he had been a troubled adolescent who had married and settled recently. He converted to Islam officially six months ago, grew a beard.

According to the Telegraph, the suspect's father had been based at Westminster, and had died when the suspect was 14. The suspect had attended grammar school and art college, and his marriage to a Muslim woman had taken place a month ago. He lived with his wife at the home of his mother, a physical education teacher.

Four other homes were raided in the town, and at one of these addresses, nine other houses around were evacuated during the raid, as a precautionary measure. Two brothers were said to have been arrested from this particular address in Walton Drive.

The brothers were married and living with their parents at the house. They had attended a local mosque but had recently been attending less, and had started to frequent an Islamic bookshop in Totteridge Drive. They also wore Islamic robes.

The Guardian quotes a neighbour as saying: "They used to come out and play football, but as they got older they got very secluded. There's a lot of Islamic bookstores popping up all over the place. Its different, the preaching down there".

Half a mile away in Micklefield Road, two more houses were raided, and friends said of one of the men taken away that he had become interested in radical Islam following a trip to Pakistan two years ago. In his late 20s, this individual was thought to have been an international dealer in sports cars.

The Guardian states that one of the men arrested at High Wycombe had been a convert to Islam, whose name is Don Stewart-Whyte. He lived with his mother, a widow, in Hepplewhite Close.

An area of woodland at Kings Wood in High Wycombe was also cordoned off during the police operation.

Birmingham Raids

In Birmingham, states the Telegraph, a business property in Belcher's Lane, Bordersley Green, was raided. A semi-detached house in St Margaret's road, was simultaneously searched. This house has a small Islamic school in its back garden. Lock-up garages in the area of Belcher's Lane were also searched. There were rumours that an Islamic school was going to be set up in these premises.

The Guardian states that at these addresses, in Alum Wood, there had been a lot of activity. At the premises of ACS Management Group, neighbours had said that smartly-dessed Somali and Asian men had been seen delivering small packages twice a week from a lorry.

The Telegraph states that two men, of Asian background, had lived at ACS Management Group's premises for some time. One was in his 20s and the other was in his 40s. The address had been raided twice in two years. The lower part of the building had been rented to out to different businesses.

London Raids

In London, states the Guardian, a 25 year old man called Oliver Savant was sought in Folkestone Road. His mother Marilyn married a man called Ibrahim and Oliver and his brother were said on the electoral list to live there. He was later picked up elsewhere. He is said to married to a woman who is expecting a baby. He changed his name to Ibrahim.

According to the Telegraph, a neighbour claimed that he had gone to university about seven years ago, but had dropped out: "He suddenly grew a beard and started wearing Muslim robes. He had a lot of friends who dressed similarly who came around all the time. But his parents never said they were worried about him."

Five homes in all were raided in Walthamstow. Two Bangladeshis were arrested in Stoke Newington, Hackney. In Stratford, a man was arrested in the street.

The Times names some of those arrested in London - Waheed Zaman, a biochemistry student, and Amin Asmin Tariq, a Heathrow security worker. Waheed Zaman is involved with the Islamic Society at his college, and had sat as a representative at the Student Council at London Metropolitan University.

Though not all the individuals were Pakistani in origin, as had been claimed earlier in news headlines, there certainly was involvement with Pakistan. A Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, said from Islamabad: "Pakistan played a very important role in uncovering and breaking this international terrorist network". The Pakistan Daily Times quotes Aslam as saying: "The arrests in the United Kingdom have followed active intelligence cooperation between Pakistan, the UK and the US."

The plan had apparently been to use liquid peroxide-based explosive materials, which would have been combined on board planes with detonators which would be disguised as standard electronic devices to become deadly bombs.

For this reason, hand luggage was banned from passenger areas on planes today, including food and drink, and why only babies' feeding liquids were allowed on board planes. Mothers were made to taste their babies' drinks to show these were what they purported to be.

BBC World Service states that the Pakistan Foreign Ministry has said that the surveillance and monitoring operation had been underway for about a year. The BBC also states that five people are still believed to be remaining free. Investigations are still continuing.

Most sources have claimed that the surveillance operation of the group began in July 2005, but according to the Scotsman, the surveillance started months before this, following arrests made in Pakistan. The Pakistani authorities who alerted MI5.

Assets Frozen

The Times states that the UK Treasury has sought to freeze the assets of 19 of those arrested. The BBC confirms that the Bank of England has now frozen the assets of most of those arrested. As a result of the application, the names of nineteen suspects have emerged.

They are from London:

Abdullah Ali, 26, London E17

Abdul Muneem Patel, 17, London E5

Nabeel Hussain, 21, Waltham Forest

Tanvir Hussain, 24, London E10

Ibrahim Savant, 26, London E17

Osman Adam Khatib, 20, London E17

Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 36, Stoke Newington

Amin Asmin Tariq, 23, London E17

Waheed Arafat Khan, 24, London E17

Cossor Ali, 24, London E17

Umir Hussain, 24, London E14

Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24, London E17

Waheed Zaman, 22, London E17

Assan Abdullah Khan, 22, London E17

From High Wycombe

Umar Islam, 28, (born Brian Young) High Wycombe

Assad Sarwar, 25, High Wycombe

Shazad Khuram Ali, 27, High Wycombe

Waseem Kayani, 28, High Wycombe

From Birmingham

Tayib Rauf, 21, Birmingham

UPDATE - 11 August: AKI states that the Pakistani authorities have announced that two British citizens were recently arrested in Pakistan, in connection with the plot. "The two British citizens were arrested 8-10 days ago, one in Karachi and the other in Lahore," a statement claimed. The men had travelled to Pakistan from Britain, and had already made their farewell martyrdom tapes.

Keyword: The name of the UK police operation on this plot is Operation Overt

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 10, 2006 10:06 PM

Comments

Posted by: Jon at August 11, 2006 9:09 PM

Post a comment