Daily Express : More Terrorists Linked To Bomb Plot

MORE TERRORISTS LINKED TO BOMB PLOT

By Eugene Henderson and James Murray | April 12, 2009

DETECTIVES believe more than 30 people were involved in an alleged Al Qaeda plot to bring carnage to the centre of Manchester. Senior officers say 11 suspects they are questioning were at the heart of a terror cell as it prepared for a huge Easter holiday bombing campaign.

However, they believe other “key players” are still at large – and could provide the key to the group’s bomb making capabilities.

Police were yesterday given more time to interrogate the 11 suspects – all Pakistanis except one UK national – who remain in custody after an 18-year-old suspect was handed over to immigration officials.

The men were arrested in Liverpool, Manchester and Clitheroe, Lancs, in an operation sparked by Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick’s blunder last Wednesday.

The anti-terror supremo was photographed carrying highly classified documents with the text clearly showing details of the planned raids as he went to brief Gordon Brown.

Senior detectives realise there is growing public concern that after such high-profile arrests, no bomb-making equipment has been found.

They admit they are facing a race against time to uncover the other members of the network as they continue to interrogate the men arrested during the raids.

Last night a senior police source said: “These people are known as second and third-tier players. They are on the periphery, but we can’t be sure how much they know or if they are capable of carrying out the attack.

“We haven’t found any explosives and we don’t know if these other men know where they are.”

The suspects came to the attention of intelligence sources after the arrest and questioning of four terror suspects arrested in Pakistan three months ago. That led to a watch on their emails and phone calls.

It is understood a list containing the names of at least 36 potential terrorists living in the UK has been handed to British intelligence from their counterparts in Pakistan.

Sources said police had arrested a 22-year-old man suspected of being the ringleader in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. Two other men were arrested at a nearby internet cafe.

At least two of the arrested men had worked on a self-employed basis for Cargo2Go, a delivery company based at Manchester Airport.

It is understood they used their own vans to deliver packages around the country.

The police source added: “Some of the suspects had a level of access to airports that would heighten our concerns, but as yet we haven’t found any ­evidence that they have used that to their advantage.”

Two other suspects were seized while working as security guards at a Homebase DIY store in Clitheroe.

As detectives continue their hunt, it can also be revealed that the processing of highly sensitive visas in Pakistan has been farmed out to a private commercial company.

Although there is a huge risk of suicide bombers and Al Qaeda supporters coming to Britain from Pakistan our High Commission in the capital Islamabad outsources the vital administration of visas to a company called Gerry’s International.

After being informed of the astonishing situation, the Tories immediately called on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to make sure all the work was done by High Commission staff only.

“This is highly sensitive work and clearly should not be outsourced,” said Tory MP Patrick Mercer, chairman of a Home Affairs sub committee on terrorism. “The Government has to wake up to the fact that the system is a mess and needs tougher procedures with greater scrutiny.”

Nobody at the company or the High Commission was available to comment yesterday.

The demand comes after it was revealed that one of the suspects seized over the alleged terror plot to bomb Manchester got into the country from Pakistan with the wrong documents.

Damian Green, the Shadow Immigration Minister, said: “Ministers for years have failed to crackdown effectively on bogus colleges and courses. Their recent efforts have been too little too late.

“This another symptom of the wider failure of the Government’s immigration policy.”