Guardian : Lord Carlile calls inquiry into terror bomb plot raids

Lord Carlile calls inquiry into terror bomb plot raids

Police deny error as 12 are freed without charge
Lawyers try to stop deportation to Pakistan

Sandra Laville and Helen Carter | April 23, 2009

The operation that led to 12 men being arrested on suspicion of plotting a large al-Qaida atrocity is to be investigated by Lord Carlile, the country's terror watchdog.

Carlile, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said he would carry out a review into the raids, that took place in the north-west of England on the Wednesday before Easter, after all 12 suspects were released without charge.

As lawyers for some of the men said they would resist attempts to deport them to Pakistan, the chief constable of Greater Manchester police, who led the operation, denied his force had been embarrassed.

"I do not believe a mistake was made," said Peter Fahy. "We were faced with a very difficult decision."

The last two suspects were released into the custody of the UK Border Agency by the police yesterday, 24 hours after nine others had been transferred to the border agency for deportation without being charged.

A 12th suspect was released earlier in the operation. Eleven of the men are Pakistani nationals who entered the country on student visas. They now face deportation on the grounds of national security. The 12th is a British national.

Carlile said yesterday he alone had decided to launch an inquiry into the operation, which was co-ordinated by counterterrorist officers from the police in Manchester, London and the security service MI5. His investigation will start next month but he would not commit himself to making the report public.

"The questions I shall raise will centre on (but not necessarily be limited to) the nature and extent of the use of the Terrorism Act 2000 and connected legislation used for the purposes of the operation," he said.

He said the review did not necessarily imply criticism but was part of his ongoing activity. But the decision to mount an inquiry into the arrests, which led to comments by Gordon Brown that the police had foiled a "very big terrorist plot", will be viewed by some as reflecting concern over the way police and politicians are dealing with the terrorist threat.

Fahy acknowledged the concerns of the Muslim community in comments yesterday. But he stood by his force's decision to move in and make the arrests.

"When it comes to the safety of the public we can't take any chances - we must act on information we receive. We don't take these decisions lightly and only carry out this kind of action if it was wholly justified."

He said police were still gathering information but after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service and a judge there had not been enough evidence to bring charges.

The Guardian understands that the decision to arrest the 12 on 8 April came after discussions between the security service MI5 and the police. Fahy denied that there had been any disagreement with the security services.

There was hope early on that evidence might be found of bombmaking material or on computer disks seized from the suspects' homes, but in the event the police did not find enough evidence even to convince a judge that the men could be held and questioned for the full 28 days available under terror legislation.

A spokesman for Brown said yesterday: "We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security. Where a foreign national poses a threat to the country we will seek to exclude or deport them where appropriate."

Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain said the prime minister's comments on the arrests had been prejudicial and premature. "These arrests took place in very dramatic circumstances with students being pulled from universities and thrown to the floor. Instead of releasing them with good grace and making clear a mistake has been made the government is seeking to deport them citing a very vague national security threat."

The raids were brought forward after the country's then head of counterterrorism, assistant commissioner Bob Quick, inadvertently allowed details of the operation to be photographed outside Downing Street. Neither the police nor security services believe the raids were compromised by advancing them.