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| Britain |
| UK police release all Pakistani terrorism suspects |
| 2009-04-23 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] British police said on Wednesday they would bring no charges against 12 men seized in raids to foil a suspected al-Qaeda plot that were brought forward due to a security breach. The men, 11 Pakistanis and one Briton, were arrested around northwest England on April 8 as part of a counterterrorism operation. Police said all the suspects, aged between 22 and 38, had been released although 11 had been handed over to immigration officials and face deportation on national security grounds. Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to justify holding them any longer or bringing charges, police said. "As there are ongoing issues of matters of national security around this investigation, it does limit what we are able to say," said Chief Constable Peter Fahy. "We had a duty to act to protect the public and a subsequent duty to investigate what lay before us. We don't take these decisions lightly and only carry out this kind of action if it is wholly justified." Media reports at the time of the arrests said police believed a large attack in Britain was in its final stages. An unnamed source close to the investigation was quoted by the BBC as saying it was a "very, very big attack." Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the time the operation involved a "major terrorist plot," which briefing documents said was linked to al-Qaeda. A Border Agency spokeswoman said: "The government's highest priority is to protect public safety. Where a foreign national poses a threat to this country we will seek to exclude or to deport, where this is appropriate." The government has come under pressure to strengthen its visa rules after it emerged that 10 of the Pakistani men were in Britain on student visas. Relatives of the suspects in Pakistan had pleaded their innocence and demanded access to them, saying neither the British nor the Pakistan government had provided them with information on their detention. "Protecting the public is the main focus of the police. These arrests were carried out after a number of U.K. agencies gathered information that indicated a potential risk to public safety," the police spokeswoman said Tuesday. "Officers are continuing to review a large amount of information gathered as part of this investigation. Investigations of this nature are extremely complex." Brown angered Pakistani officials after the April 8 arrests by calling on Pakistan to do more to "root out the terrorist elements in its country". Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan responded by saying Britain should do more by allowing Pakistan to scrutinize people applying for visas. Several plots to launch attacks on Britain have had links to Pakistan, including suicide bombings in 2005 which killed 52 people on three trains and a bus in London. The Muslim Council of Britain criticized Brown for his remarks. Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said the decision to deport the men following their release was "very dishonorable." "When these arrests took place, in very dramatic circumstances with students being pulled from universities and thrown to the floor, we were told by the Prime Minister no less that this was part of a very big terrorist plot," he said. "We would hope that senior ministers and the Prime Minister will understand that it is completely unfair to make prejudicial and premature remarks in cases like this." |
| Posted by:Fred |