May 04, 2011 01:39 AM (Last updated: May 04, 2011 01:39 AM)By Tim Castle Reuters
LONDON: British police said Tuesday they had arrested five men close to a nuclear reprocessing plant in northwest England under counterterrorism laws.
The arrests were made after Prime Minister David Cameron urged Britain to remain vigilant against potential reprisals following the killing of Osama bin Laden.
“While bin Laden is gone, the threat of Al-Qaeda remains,” Cameron told Parliament Tuesday.
“And, of course, there is always the risk of a radicalized individual acting alone, a so-called lone-wolf attack. So we must be more vigilant than ever – and we must maintain that vigilance for some time to come,” he said.
Britain will keep its terrorist threat level – currently at severe – under review, he said.
Police said they were unaware of any link between the arrests and bin Laden’s death.
The men were arrested Monday after officers conducted a stop check on a vehicle near Cumbria’s Sellafield site.The men are all aged in their 20s and from London.
A spokesman for the police’s North West Counter Terrorism Unit declined to comment on media reports the men had been filming the site
“There were suspicions from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary that led to some arrests. There were some suspicions about them near to the perimeter fence,” he said.
A police counter terrorism source said the arrests were not preplanned. “The local officers felt there was enough to arrest them. It’s a case of seeing if there is anything to it.”
Police held the men under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, which allows officers to arrest people suspected of terrorist offences and hold them for 48 hours without charge.
The men were being transferred to the northern English city of Manchester to be questioned by counterterrorism officers.
Local police were alerted by officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, a specialist force which provides protection for civil nuclear licensed sites.
Fifty-two people were killed in London in 2005 when Al-Qaeda inspired suicide bombers blew up underground trains and a bus.
LONDON: British police said Tuesday they had arrested five men close to a nuclear reprocessing plant in northwest England under counterterrorism laws.
The arrests were made after Prime Minister David Cameron urged Britain to remain vigilant against potential reprisals following the killing of Osama bin Laden.
“While bin Laden is gone, the threat of Al-Qaeda remains,” Cameron told Parliament Tuesday.
“And, of course, there is always the risk of a radicalized individual acting alone, a so-called lone-wolf attack. So we must be more vigilant than ever – and we must maintain that vigilance for some time to come,” he said.
Britain will keep its terrorist threat level – currently at severe – under review, he said.
Police said they were unaware of any link between the arrests and bin Laden’s death.
The men were arrested Monday after officers conducted a stop check on a vehicle near Cumbria’s Sellafield site.The men are all aged in their 20s and from London.
A spokesman for the police’s North West Counter Terrorism Unit declined to comment on media reports the men had been filming the site
“There were suspicions from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary that led to some arrests. There were some suspicions about them near to the perimeter fence,” he said.
A police counter terrorism source said the arrests were not preplanned. “The local officers felt there was enough to arrest them. It’s a case of seeing if there is anything to it.”
Police held the men under section 41 of the Terrorism Act, which allows officers to arrest people suspected of terrorist offences and hold them for 48 hours without charge.
The men were being transferred to the northern English city of Manchester to be questioned by counterterrorism officers.
Local police were alerted by officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, a specialist force which provides protection for civil nuclear licensed sites.
Fifty-two people were killed in London in 2005 when Al-Qaeda inspired suicide bombers blew up underground trains and a bus.
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