Monday, September 19, 2011

UK police arrest seven in counter-terrorism raids

Police arrested seven people in a counter-terrorism operation in Birmingham but said there was no connection to the Liberal Democrat conference taking place there this week.

Six men, aged between 25 and 32, were arrested overnight on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism and a 22-year-old woman was held on suspicion of failing to disclose information that could help prevent an act of terrorism, a police statement said.

"I can tell you this was a large-scale operation led by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit," Police Assistant Chief Constable Marcus Beale said in a statement.

"The operation has been running for some time and has been subject to regular review. As a result of one of those reviews yesterday we decided that the time was right and moved to make six arrests during the night, with a further one a few hours later," he added.

Police said the fact that the arrests took place as the Lib Dems were meeting was "complete coincidence."

All the suspects are from the Birmingham area and, with the exception of the female arrested, are under terrorism detention, Beale said.

Specialist police teams are now searching 14 properties in the Birmingham area and some computer equipment has been removed for examination.

Unarmed police officers arrested the men at or near their homes in what the police said was a "large, pre-planned, intelligence-led counter-terrorism operation".

Britain lowered its international terrorism threat level from severe to substantial - the third highest level - in July, a year before London hosts the Olympics.