Biggest anti-terror sweep since 9/11: The background

By JASON BENNETTO and KIM SENGUPTA

It was in February that eight young British citizens living in and around London first became the focus of what would turn into MI5's biggest ever operation against suspected al Qaeda terrorists.

Over the next six weeks the full force of Britain's intelligence capabilities were used against the suspects, all of whom are of Pakistani descent, to track them, eavesdrop their conversations, bug their phones, and follow their every move.

The Security Service was first alerted to the suspected cells of Islamic extremists after intercepting one of the group's telephone conversations. As the operation snowballed more and more officers from MI5, Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, and the listening centre at GCHQ in Cheltenham, joined the investigation.

The inquiry came to a head yesterday in a series of co-ordinated early morning raids involving around 700 police officers. The target of the operation were eight men, aged 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 21, 22 and 32, and a warehouse in west London.

Inside the lock-up storage centre in Boston Road, Hanwell, the police seized more than half a tonne of ammonium nitrate fertiliser in a 6ft by 2ft plastic bag. The fertiliser is a key bomb-making ingredient and would have been enough to cause a blast on the same scale as the 1996 IRA bombs at South Quay station in London's Canary Wharf.

The fertiliser, which requires a "booster" explosive to set it off, is believed to have been used by al Qaeda in an attack on the US embassy in Nairobi in 1998 and in the first World Trade Centre bombing in New York in 1993.

The intelligence service and police believe they have foiled a bombing plot, that if successful would have been the first al Qaeda terrorist attack in the United Kingdom.

During the numerous phone taps and interceptions the group of young men are alleged to have discussed a number of possible targets in Britain. They included a shopping complex on or close to the M25 motorway. Other targets were also allegedly mentioned, but according to anti-terrorist sources, no single location was selected.

There is speculation that the men considered an attack on Gatwick or Heathrow airport because several of the men arrested lived near the airports and at least one works at Gatwick, but sources believe this is unlikely because of the tight security surrounding the airports.

Little is yet publicly known about the eight men arrested, although the security service has built up a detailed picture of their lives during the intensive surveillance operation.

Two of the men were arrested in Uxbridge, north west London, one in Ilford, Essex, one in Horley, Surrey, one in Slough and three in Crawley in Sussex. All the men have family connections in Pakistan and are understood to have visited the country several times.

One of the suspects is said to have spent some time at a training camp in that part of the world. The man is said to have visited relations in the Punjab before allegedly moving on to the camp near Peshawar in the west of the country before the war in Afghanistan.

But it is in Britain that the group are alleged to have become radicalised and joined the growing band of Islamic extremists who support Osama bin Laden.

Sources have suggested that one of the suspects was a regular visitor to the Brixton mosque in south London where Richard Reid, the shoe bomber who attempted to blow up an airliner, and Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker in the 11 September attacks, also worshipped. It is not known, however, if the men ever met.

The age of the remaining suspects is thought to reflect the growing radicalisation of a tiny number of young British born Muslims. There appeared to be no overt links between the eight suspects arrested yesterday and the group accused over the Madrid bombing.

The extreme youth of the majority of the eight also highlights the difficulties for the security services in trying to identify likely al-Qaeda followers. In normal circumstances anti-terrorist operations would be aimed at suspects with a history of extremism or violence.

The decision to arrest the suspects yesterday was taken by MI5 and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch and National Co-ordinator for Terrorism, amid concerns that a bomb was being prepared.

At 6am officers from five different police forces carried out the raids in Uxbridge, Ilford and Colindale in London and in Crawley, Slough, Luton and Horley in the Home Counties. In all 24 properties were raided and searches were continuing in many of them last night.

Police were on guard at the Access Storage Solutions warehouses yesterday while forensic officers continued their examination of the site where they discovered the fertiliser. The warehouse contains individually alarmed lock-ups, 24-hour automated access to the site and office space. So-called "drive-ups" allow vans and cars to back on to the storage units, making loading easier.

In Crawley about 100 officers took part in the operation and arrested three men aged 19, 22 and 32 in the Langley Green area of the town, which has one of the largest ethnic populations in Sussex.

No names have been released but it is believed one of those arrested worked for Sky Chef, a catering company at Gatwick while the other worked for Checker Cab Company, also based at the airport.

Officers remained at the addresses, which continued to be cordoned off with police tape last night.

In Langley Drive, Crawley, yesterday two uniformed police officers were standing guard outside a house after one of the raids. Police were also on guard outside an internet cafe in nearby Langley Parade. A house raided in Juniper Road, Crawley, had been occupied by a father, his sons and a daughter, a neighbour said.

Six houses were raided in Luton. Forensic officers in white boiler suits searched a white pebble-dashed semi-detached house at the end of Warrington Avenue. Neighbours said one of the homes belonged to an elderly couple, while the other was occupied by their daughter, her husband and their two children.

Yasin Rehman, information officer for the Luton Council of Mosques, said extremist groups had been targeting young men in Luton for several years.

He said they had been banned from mosques after attempting to recruit followers but continued to hold meetings and distribute leaflets in the town.

He said Muslim leaders had formed the council of mosques in an attempt to counteract the extremist messages.

"I would say there are up to 30-40 people in Luton who are members of these groups," said Mr Rehman.

"They used to produce leaflets. Sometimes disgusting leaflets about killing people. We tried to stop that, telling them that they could not use our mosques to distribute these leaflets. Their message seems to be that the West is to blame for everything.

"The majority of the people in the Muslim community don't support extremism. But we are concerned because they are targeting young people - young people who come from deprived areas who often have nothing and little hope."

Jarez Khan, said he had known the family who live in two raided houses in Overstone Road, Luton, for many years.

He said: "My brother runs a grocer's shop here and the old boy comes in here to pick up his paper and buy his groceries.

"He's a nice old boy. He sometimes comes with his son-in-law. He must be getting on for 70."

Police are also investigating the Gatwick Holiday Inn in Horley where an arrest was made in connection with anti-terrorism operations have sealed off two rooms on the fourth floor.

Numbers 440 and 442 have been placed off limits by officers who have posted a police guard outside the doors. Items from both rooms are being removed and carried off for examination by forensics officers.

- INDEPENDENT