IHT : Britain lifts asset freeze on man released after questioning in airliner plot

Britain lifts asset freeze on man released after questioning in airliner plot

The Associated Press | August 22, 2007

LONDON: A man questioned over an alleged plot to bomb U.S-bound airliners but freed by police without charge was handed back his financial assets Thursday — almost a year after his accounts were frozen in a purge on suspected terrorist fundraising.

Britain's Treasury said it had lifted sanctions against Shazad Khuram Ali, a 27-year-old man who was found to have no connection to the alleged plot to target passenger jets with liquid explosives.

He was one of 19 people who had their bank accounts and other assets frozen by the Bank of England during the investigation. Ali is the first person ever to have the financial sanctions revoked, the Treasury said.

Ali was arrested on Aug. 10, 2006 at his home in High Wycombe, southern England, but was released on Sept. 6 after police decided not to charge him.

A Treasury spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with ministry policy, said Ali's assets were released after consultation with police and intelligence officers.

"It is for the police and the intelligence agencies to make operational judgments about which tools to deploy in individual cases," the spokesman said. "Cases are always kept under review."

A total of 24 people were held in raids in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham, with 15 eventually charged with criminal offenses. Most are due to be tried in London next April.