Bloomberg : U.K. Police Get More Time to Question Terror Suspects

U.K. Police Get More Time to Question Terror Suspects

Bloomberg | August 17, 2006

U.K. anti-terrorist police were given more time to question 23 people arrested on Aug. 10 on suspicion of links to an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners.

A district judge at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London granted permission to detain 21 of the suspects until Aug. 23, and two of them until Aug. 21, London's Metropolitan Police said in an e-mailed statement. Another suspect arrested on Aug. 15 was released yesterday and faces no further action by police.

The closed-door hearings were a test for a new U.K. anti- terrorism law that allows suspects to be held for 28 days, double the previous limit. The detentions are subject to court review at regular intervals. Senior police officers want the limit extended to 90 days, as originally proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The suspects were arrested when U.K. police raided dozens of premises last week after intelligence services said bombers were days away from using liquid explosives to attack U.S.-bound flights from the U.K.

A U.K. police team has now arrived in Pakistan where Rashid Rauf, a British national, is held in connection with the alleged plot, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherapo said by telephone. He was unable to confirm a report in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper that Abu Faraj al-Libbi, whom the newspaper described as al- Qaeda "No. 3," was behind the plot.

Zawahiri Go-Ahead

The plot was probably cleared by al-Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Associated Press reported, citing a senior Pakistani intelligence official. The same official said he believed Rauf was a planner and recruiter for the plot, AP said. Pakistani authorities are looking for three more suspects, a British Muslim of Afghan origin, a Pakistani national and an Eritrean, AP said, citing a Pakistani intelligence official.

Blair's plan for a 90-day detention limit was thrown out by members of his own Labour Party in the prime minister's first defeat in the House of Commons. The 28-day limit was a compromise.

Detention Debate

In a letter to the government last October, Andy Hayman, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said 90 days were needed to unravel a suspect's false identities, find interpreters for obscure dialects, follow leads abroad, decipher encrypted computer data and track cellular phone communications. Allowing Muslim suspects time for regular religious observance also causes delay to the investigative process, Hayman said.

Home Secretary John Reid favors extending the 28-day period. On Aug. 12, two days after the arrests, he said, "I hope we will remember the police and security services say they need 90 days." Last year, he supported Blair's attempt to make it 90 days.

"The police appear to think there is material emerging of a substantial nature during their inquiries" into the alleged plot, Reid told reporters yesterday.

The extension of the custody period sparked debate over civil liberties in the U.K. "Twenty-eight days is the longest time period in Western Europe, and the longer people are held without charge the more likely there is to be a miscarriage of justice. We are very, very worried by any move to take it beyond 28 days," said Doug Jewell, a spokesman for the U.K. civil liberties group Liberty.

No suspect in the U.K. has yet been held for more than 14 days, Jewell said in a telephone interview.

"Complex Business"

"It's a complex business. Modern terrorists have become more innovative and sophisticated at covering their tracks and police have a tough job," said Professor Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence in the U.K.

"These days, with al-Qaeda and its affiliates, you are dealing with a trans-national phenomenon and you may have to get information from two or three different countries," Wilkinson said. He said he wasn't convinced by the argument for 90 days. In "very, very exceptional circumstances" there could be a case for asking a judge to go beyond 28 days, he said.

The investigation prompted chaos at U.K. airports. Airlines scrapped more than 2,380 flights from London in the week since police said they foiled the plot, and carry-on bags remain restricted to half the previous size.

Operation Overt

The Metropolitan Police on Aug. 15 said 46 searches have been carried out at residential and business premises in the U.K. in connection with the investigation, codenamed Operation Overt. Twenty vehicles also were searched.

The searches took place in London, England's Midlands region and west of London in the town of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, where police have been combing King's Wood. The forested area is close to the homes of some of the suspects. It has become a focal point for the investigation, with dozens of police officers checking undergrowth for evidence of bomb-making equipment.

Police have declined to comment on U.K. media reports that firearms and thousands of pounds in cash had been found by search teams at addresses linked to the suspects.

Pakistani authorities are looking for three more people suspected of links to the plot, the Associated Press reported today, citing a Pakistani intelligence official.

The suspects are a British Muslim of Afghan origin, a Pakistani national and an Eritrean national, AP said, citing the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

Pakistan has already arrested Rashid Rauf, a British national who it said was a "key person" in the inquiry.