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January 23, 2007

UK: Five Muslim Men Arrested In Terror Raids

News comes from various sources: BBC, Guardian, Manchester Evening News, the Mirror, Reuters, Bloomberg, the Australian, TVNZ, CNN, Press Association and Channel 4 News.

Three men were arrested this morning in the Manchester connurbation, northern England, and two were arrested in Halifax, West Yorkshire, 200 miles north of London. The Australian states that the BBC (in an early edition) has suggested that the two men arrested in Halifax were British Pakistanis, indicating that the raids involved Muslim terrorism.

The five individuals were apprehended in two series of raids which are said to be unconnected. However, the men are being detained under the terms of the Terrorism Act 2000. London's Metropolitan Police said the men in Halifax were held on suspicion of the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism".

The men from Halifax are aged 25 and 29. The raids were carried out in conjunction with the Metropitan Police, following an ongoing "intelligence-led operation". The dawn raids, at two separate houses in Halifax, were not carried out by armed officers. The two addresses, as well as an apartment in London, are currently being searched.

The raids in Manchester took place at four separate addresses, with two 24-year old men arrested at a location in Cheetham Hill in the north of the city, and a 32-year old man being arrested at Longsight in the southeast of Manchester.

A spokeswoman for the Greater Manchester Police said: "At this stage, there is no intelligence of any planned terrorist activity in the UK and the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation."

The police in Manchester have apparently liaised with "representatives of the local community" and have also produced leaflets. This indicates strongly that the raids have affected the Muslim community. No other community in Britain has its "representatives" consulted when a terrorism raid takes place.

Greater Manchester Police stressed that the raids in the city were not connected with those in Halifax. The raids in Manchester are said by the BBC to be made in connection with a terror suspect who was under a control order, but absconded earlier this month.

This Pakistani-origin individual from Manchester had taken refuge in a mosque, and while police tried to negotiate with the mosque representatives, rather than bursting in and arresting the suspect, other individuals assisted the man to escape through the mosque's back entrance.

The 26-year old man had expressed a desire to go to Afghanistan to fight coalition forces, and had been placed under a "control order" in January. He had breached this control order only four days after it had been imposed. The man is said to have visited Afghanistan in the past. The mosque from where the man escaped has not been named. The individual is now thought to be in Afghanistan.

Currently, the trial of six men who were said to be involved in a failed series of suicide bombings on 21 July, 2005, exactly two weeks after the 7/7 atrocity, which killed 52 people, is taking place in Woolwich Crown Court, London. Four of the men had strapped explosive backpacks onto themselves and had detonated the devices, but their explosives had not been powerful to cause loss of life. This trial commenced on Monday January 15. I will be reviewing the details of the trial later.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at January 23, 2007 7:08 AM

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