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Seven foreign nationals detained in UK security swoop
Seven foreign nationals were detained by Britainâs Immigration Service on Thursday under the home secretaryâs powers to deport individuals for reasons of national security. The Home Office said the men were held in an operation supported by officers from Londonâs Metropolitan Police and the Greater Manchester Police.
The arrests came shortly before Charles Clarke, the home secretary, was to present a set of draft clauses from the upcoming Counter-Terrorism Bill that would back to police demands for terror suspects to be held for up to three months for questioning without charge. The proposed extension to the current 14-day detention period was one of the most contentious proposals when new counter-terrorism laws were discussed in the wake of the July 7 bombings. The Association of Chief Police Officers says the extension will give officers the time they need to establish a case against suspects, often involving time-consuming investigation of computer files and CCTV records. The clauses are being made available separately several weeks ahead of the expected publication of the full Bill in the middle of October, to allow for consultation with opposition parties. It is understood that Thursdayâs detentions, on national security grounds, were not directly linked with recent changes to the Home Secretaryâs deportation powers. In addition to reasons of national security, he can now order a personâs detention and deportation on grounds of âunacceptable behaviourâ, such as preaching in support of terrorism. But, according to a report by the Press Association, some of those held in the swoops were thought to be among eight co-defendants acquitted at a court in April of involvement in a plot to poison Londoners with ricin. Mr Clarke said earlier this week that hundreds of terror suspects wre under close surveillance by MI5, the Security Service, with secret intelligence still unable to help pinpoint the precise nature of the terrorist threat facing Britain. The home secretary gave MPs the broad estimate - similar to the one given by Tony Blair in February - as he was questioned by the cross-party Commons home affairs committee about the security measures the government was taking in the aftermath of the London bombings. He told MPs: "There are certainly hundreds of individuals we have been watching very closely and continue to watch extremely closely." While the statement suggested that MI5 and police could be examining new information, Mr Clarke was unable to reassure MPs that a breakthrough in the London bombings investigation was imminent. "We don't have knowledge of a specific threat . . . We have intelligence but we don't have knowledge," he said. While the "foreign link" to the bombings was important enough to continue to be the subject of investigation, the extent to which any wider terrorist organisation had been behind the London bombings remained unclear. Mr Clarke identified Pakistan as an area that continued to be of potential interest because of the links to it of some of the bombers. But he appeared to play down suggestions that the video message left by one of the suicide bombers, Mohamad Sidique Khan, had established a clear logistical link with al-Qaeda. More than two weeks after the video's appearance on Al-Jazeera, the Arab TV station, investigators were still unsure where it was produced and by whom, and how it was distributed. In written evidence to the MPs, the home secretary confirmed his intention to use existing powers to deport foreign individuals who were "not conducive to the public good". But he admitted that while 11 of these people had been subject to control orders, plans for their deportation were not based on any specific threat assessment. In evidence to the same parliamentary committee, Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, apologised to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, while defending the shoot-to-kill guidelines behind the Brazilian's death at Stockwell Tube station. Describing the controversial tactics as the "least worst option" for saving the public from attack by suicide terrorists, Sir Ian acknowledged the issue was one that now required public debate. Sir Ian also revealed he was in detailed negotiations with ministers over the funding of the Metropolitan police's counter-terrorist operations, which had cost bout £60m above budget in the aftermath of the bombings. In Rome, Italy's highest appeals court upheld the extradition to Britain of Hamdi Issac, the Ethiopian-born Briton suspected of involvement in an attempted attack on July 21 on Shepherd's Bush Tube station. Legal experts expect him to be transferred to the UK in the next 10 days. Posted by: lotp 2005-09-15 |
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