Sky News : Terror Suspects Handed To UK Borders Agency

Terror Suspects Handed To UK Borders Agency

April 21, 2009

Nine men arrested under the Terrorism Act over an alleged Easter bomb plot have been released into the custody of the UK Borders Agency.

Police said two men remain in custody following the high-profile raids in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, and Lancashire on April 8.

A total of 12 men - 11 Pakistani nationals and one Afghan - were held in the operation on suspicion of planning attacks in the North West.

Last week, an 18-year-old was transferred into the custody of the UK Borders Agency.

Now, the North West Counter Terrorism Unit has confirmed that nine more - aged between 22 and 38 - have been handed over to the agency in preparation for deportation.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security.

"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."

But Sky News' home affairs correspondent Mark White said their release will raise a number of questions.

"It's painfully clear from the Home Office statement that the Government still considers these 10 individuals a direct threat to national security," he said.

"But the question will be asked, if that's the case why have these individuals not been charged and the case put before the courts in this country.

"It does seem that police have not been able to gather enough evidence to mount a successful prosecution in the UK, so the next best option was to deport them to their countries of origin."

Lawyers for three of the men insist their clients are innocent and plan to challenge the deportation efforts.

The solicitors based in Bradford said: "Their arrest and detention has been a very serious breach of their human rights."

The raids were brought forward because of a gaffe by Britain's top counter-terrorist officer.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick resigned after the security breach when he was photographed carrying a secret document containing details of the operation into 10 Downing Street.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "Officers are continuing to review a large amount of information gathered as part of this investigation.

"Investigations of this nature are extremely complex. We remain grateful to the support and co-operation of the communities affected."

He said searches are continuing at an address at Galsworthy Avenue, in Cheetham Hill, Manchester.

CNN : Nine of 11 England terror suspects released

Nine of 11 England terror suspects released

* Border officials want men deported despite lack of evidence to charge them
* Agency: We want to remove men "on grounds of national security"
* Men had been held in association with alleged terror plot in northern England
* Widespread arrests made after police official photographed with name of suspects

April 21, 2009

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Nine of the 11 Pakistani nationals being held in an alleged terror plot in northern England were released Tuesday, according to police.
Police officers guard a house in Manchester, England, following raids and arrests of terror suspects.

The arrests were made the week before Easter and came quickly after Britain's chief terrorism officer, who has since resigned, exposed a list of people who were suspected of planning an al Qaeda-linked attack.

Britain's Greater Manchester Police said the men were released into the custody of the U.K.'s border agency, which will determine whether they can legally remain in England. Police and the border agency said they want the men deported, even though investigators apparently were unable to find enough evidence to charge them with crimes.

"We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security. The government's highest priority is to protect public safety," said a statement from the agency. "Where a foreign national poses a threat to this country, we will seek to exclude or to deport, where this is appropriate."

Twelve people originally were arrested April 8, and one had been released before Tuesday. Two people remained in custody, authorities said.

Police said that at the time of the arrests, their investigation compelled them to take action, even without the blunder made by Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick.

The document he was carrying when photographed outside 10 Downing Street contained the names of those to be arrested, and a source said photographers were able to easily read the names when they enlarged the photographs.

Once the word was out, police rushed to make the arrests. Authorities said those actions would have been taken in the following 24 hours anyway.

The men -- ranging in age from 18 to 22 -- were arrested in Manchester, about 200 miles northwest of London. They had been held for 13 days without being charged. Police will need to seek an extension by Wednesday to be able to continue holding the two remaining suspects without charges.

Police say they are continuing to review evidence collected in the case and are searching at least one more house

CNN's Paula Newton in London contributed to this report.

AFP : Police free nine terror suspects

Police free nine terror suspects

April 21, 2009

LONDON (AFP) — Police have released nine men, most of them Pakistanis, who were arrested earlier this month during a major anti-terror operation, turning them over to immigration officials for deportation.

The suspects were among a group of 12 men, 11 Pakistanis and one Briton, who were arrested during a series of raids in the northwest on April 8 and held for questioning over an alleged Al-Qaeda-linked plot.

"The northwest counter-terrorism unit has released nine of those arrested as part of a national operation," a police spokeswoman said.

"Protecting the public is the main focus of the police. These arrests were carried out after a number of UK agencies gathered information that indicated a potential risk to public safety."

Most of the group was released into the custody of the UK Border Agency, which controls immigration and which said it would hold them until they could be deported.

"We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security," 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."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown had said police were investigating a "major terrorist plot", and police defended the arrests on the grounds of public safety.

Two men remain in police custody, while the last suspect was turned over to the UK Border Agency on April 11.

Brown's government has come under pressure to strengthen its visa rules after it emerged that 10 of the suspects were in Britain on student visas.

Relatives of the suspects in Pakistan had pleaded their innocence, and in a statement issued late Tuesday, a lawyer for three of the men said he would challenge any attempt to deport them.

"Our clients have no criminal history, they were here lawfully on student visas and all were pursuing their studies and working part-time," said Mohammed Ayub, who is based in Bradford.

"Our clients are neither extremists nor terrorists. Their arrest and detention has been a very serious breach of their human rights."

The anti-terror raids had to be brought forward after Britain's top counter-terrorism police officer was photographed holding clearly legible briefing notes on the operation. He resigned over the gaffe.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.

NYT : Britain Prepares to Deport 9 Terrorism Suspects

Britain Prepares to Deport 9 Terrorism Suspects

By JOHN F. BURNS | April 21, 2009

LONDON — Two weeks after hundreds of police officers staged raids in northern England and arrested 12 men in what Prime Minister Gordon Brown described as “a very big terrorist plot,” the police released nine of them on Tuesday and handed them over to Britain’s border control agency for deportation to Pakistan.

Two other men remained in police custody for further questioning under Britain’s Terrorism Act. Another man had been handed over previously to the border agency for deportation.

A Home Office spokesman, referring to the transfer of the nine suspects to the border agency, said the government was “seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security,” suggesting that some kind of plot was still under investigation. A police spokeswoman in the northern city of Manchester, which the British news media had portrayed as the focal point of the plot described by Mr. Brown, said the investigations were continuing.

But Britain’s security agencies appeared to have pulled back from earlier suggestions that they had foiled a major imminent attack involving infiltrators with Al Qaeda sent to Britain from Pakistan on student visas. After the arrests on April 8, senior officials were quoted in British newspapers as saying they had moved against the 12 men after deciding that a bombing attack involving mass casualties was only days from being carried out, probably against a target in Manchester, possibly a crowded shopping center over the Easter weekend.

The Manchester police spokeswoman who announced the transfer of the nine men to the border agency said the arrests had been carried out after security agencies “gathered information that indicated a potential risk to public safety.” That was a far more guarded formulation than Mr. Brown used in the immediate aftermath of the arrests, in a statement in which he demanded that Pakistan do more to root out terrorism. He also said that Britain would tighten up on student visas for Pakistanis.

The police operation on April 8 was one of the most elaborate in the lengthening history of British counterterrorism crackdowns since the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States and the transit bombings in London in July 2005 that killed 56 people, including the four suicide bombers. Hundreds of police officers, many armed with submachine guns, staged daylight raids in at least 10 locations, including a university library in Manchester. Eleven of the 12 men they arrested, who were 22 to 38 years old, were Pakistanis, 10 of them in Britain on student visas.

The arrests followed a blunder by Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism chief, Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, who arrived for a meeting with Mr. Brown holding a dossier in his hands with details of the planned police raids visible in pictures taken by news photographers. The Home Office issued an order banning the publication of the photographs, and ordered the raids carried out 12 hours sooner than planned. Mr. Quick resigned his post after being told he had lost the government's confidence.

Pakistan Times : UK lawyers raise detained Pak students issue

UK lawyers raise detained Pak students issue

'Pakistan Times' Foreign Desk | April 21, 2009

LONDON (UK): Association of UK-based Pakistani Lawyers has raised the issue of detained Pakistani students on terrorism suspicion and has called for due process of law.

In a statement, the APL Chairman Amjad Malik has demanded that British Government must allow the detained Pakistani students to have access to their respective country’s mission as protected by diplomatic norms and convention and as well as access to their family member(s) to confirm their arrest and well being.

Furthermore, the students be allowed to have access to their attorney of choice as protected by Article 6(3) c of the European Convention on Human Rights 195,and the UK authorities also allow the detained Pakistani students to have a periodical check up with the respective medical officer to ensure they are not tortured.

Malik said the British Government must also ensure that the detained Pakistani students have access to their basic human rights such as right to have a free and fair trial believing them innocent until proven guilty and their right to liberty must be protected through its free, independent, Civil and Constitutional Courts.

'If there is any evidence against them, they be allowed to face a trial by charging them rather than keeping them under administrative detention where nothing is known and one sided media trial takes place on limited information,' he said.

Ten of those 12 arrested are Pakistan-born nationals on student visas and one is a UK-born British national. One Afghani national has been transferred to the UK Border and Immigration Agency.

Access to PHC

Another report says that the officials, hailing from Pakistani High Commission (PHC) in London, have been granted permission to meet Pakistani nationals arrested in UK here on Tuesday, Geo news reported.

According to diplomatic sources, some dignitaries of Pakistani High Commission have been permitted to meet the 12 arrested Pakistani nationals in UK who were detained over alleged suspicion of having links with terrorists. The arrested persons comprised 10 Pakistani nationals, one Afghani and one British citizen.

Earlier, despite several endeavors by the officials of Pakistani High Commission (PHC) to have access to under arrest Pakistani nationals, UK government barred them from meet, sources said.

But this time, having allowed PHC’s officials access to under custody Pakistani nationals, UK officials did not belly-out reason for granting permission, sources added. According to UK officials, the access was not being granted, as what they term; 'the issue was sensitive of nature'.

APP : UK lawyers raise detained Pak students issue

UK lawyers raise detained Pak students issue

April 21, 2009

LONDON, April 21 (APP)‑Association of UK‑based Pakistani Lawyers has raised the issue of detained Pakistani students on terrorism suspicion and has called for due process of law. In a statement, the APL Chairman Amjad Malik has demanded that British Government must allow the detained Pakistani students to have access to their respective country’s mission as protected by diplomatic norms and convention and as well as access to their family member(s) to confirm their arrest and well being.

Furthermore, the students be allowed to have access to their attorney of choice as protected by Article 6(3) c of the European Convention on Human Rights 195,and the UK authorities also allow the detained Pakistani students to have a periodical check up with the respective medical officer to ensure they are not tortured.

Malik said the British Government must also ensure that the detained Pakistani students have access to their basic human rights such as right to have a free and fair trial believing them innocent until proven guilty and their right to liberty must be protected through its free, independent, Civil and Constitutional Courts.

ôIf there is any evidence against them, they be allowed to face a trial by charging them rather than keeping them under administrative detention where nothing is known and one sided media trial takes place on limited information,ö he said.

Ten of those 12 arrested are Pakistan‑born nationals on student visas and one is a UK‑born British national. One Afghani national has been transferred to the UK Border and Immigration Agency.