|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
United Kingdom: Police Arrest Seven More Suspects Connected to Ricin British police raided a London mosque Sunday and arrested seven men in connection with an investigation into the production of ricin in a north London apartment, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 17). Authorities recovered a stun gun, a canister of tear gas, an imitation handgun, passports and other files and documents after 150 officers clad in riot gear stormed the mosque in an early morning raid, the Times reported. Officials did not discover any chemical weapons at the site. Police said the seven suspects included six North African men and one East European. Abu Hamza al-Masri, the mosque’s imam, has been a vocal supporter of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a lightening rod for criticism, but police conducted the raid yesterday because of new intelligence information, according to officials. The intelligence was gleaned from the Jan. 5 raid on the alleged ricin-producing apartment and a Manchester raid last week in which an officer was killed, said Andy Trotter, London’s deputy assistant police commissioner (Warren Hoge, New York Times, Jan. 21). “Evidence gathered during recent counterterrorist investigations in London and elsewhere has uncovered links between the premises and suspected terrorist activity. Such evidence has made this operation absolutely necessary at this time,” a police statement said (Michael McDonough, Associated Press/Newsday, Jan. 20). British police are now searching for three independent terrorist groups in the United Kingdom, the London Observer reported Sunday. Security officials said a chemical or biological attack in the country is inevitable, the Observer reported (Jason Burke, London Observer, Jan. 19).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
