Chicago Tribune : ENGLAND: Last of 12 terrorism suspects freed

ENGLAND: Last of 12 terrorism suspects freed

Authorities claimed at the time of the arrests that police had disrupted 'a very big terrorist plot'

April 23, 2009

LONDON -- British police released the last of 12 suspects rounded up in a series of dramatic anti-terrorism raids earlier this month, without charging any of the men, authorities said Wednesday.

The news was an embarrassment for British authorities, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who claimed at the time of their arrests that police had disrupted "a very big terrorist plot" that had been monitored "for some time."

The arrests were rushed in part because a police commissioner inadvertently exposed details of the operation to a photographer outside the prime minister's office.

Police had to scramble to catch the suspects before they learned of the leak, forgoing their usual dawn raids for a dramatic series of daytime operations across northern England on April 8.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, one of the country's top counterterrorism officers, resigned after he exposed details of the operation.

Most of the men taken into custody were Pakistanis in Britain on student visas.

British officials have said they want to deport all but one of the men on national security grounds, but that may be difficult. A lawyer for three of the men said his clients would fight to continue their education in the United Kingdom, while Islamabad opposes deportation.