Four men have been arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act following early morning raids by police in Greater Manchester and Bolton, including one arrest in the predominantly student area of Fallowfield.
Five houses were searched in the region, including a property on Bowdon Avenue, Fallowfield, as part of a coordinated effort by the North-West Counter Terrorism unit last Monday. Another man was also arrested at a hotel near Heathrow Airport as part of the same operation, which began at approximately 4am.
40 officers were involved in the raids, although a police spokesperson emphasised that this action was part of a ‘low-key’ operation with no armed officers being used. Greater Manchester police said that the arrests and property searches are the latest stage of an investigation, which began over 15 months ago.
The identity of a 21-year-old-man arrested in Fallowfield has yet to be made public by the authorities. Greater Manchester police can also neither confirm nor deny whether he or any of the other detainees are registered as students. According to The Times, the men arrested are said to be British nationals and were “family men” who had lived in the area for some time. The other men arrested were a 27-year-old man from Stalybridge, a 52-year-old-man in Longsight and a 62-year-old man from the Deane area of Bolton. A house was also searched on Stockport road, Levenshulme, although no arrest was made here. All men are being detained under suspicion of terrorism offences including inciting an act of terrorism overseas.
Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson, of Greater Manchester Police, said that this was a “complex and ongoing investigation, which has now reached the point where it was necessary to make arrests and speak to a number of people.”
He did however wish to ease fears of a potential danger to people living in Greater Manchester: “There was no direct threat against Greater Manchester and the arrests are the latest stage of a thorough investigation. We have been liaising with local people to provide reassurance about what has happened and will continue to keep a high-profile presence in affected areas.
“Officers will also be distributing letters around the areas concerned and speaking to residents to let people know what has happened and to ask them to continue to work with us in the coming days.
“The community will be concerned that these arrests caused disruption and distress to people living there. There is no suggestion that those other people were involved in any offences and our priority is to look after these people.”
In the midst of these anti-terror raids Gordon Brown, during his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet on Monday night, spoke of the current threat that terrorism poses to the UK. In his address to the audience at Guildhall, Brown stressed the importance of the British mission in Afghanistan and Pakistan and warned that al-Qaeda were still the biggest threat to Britain’s national security.
He also emphasised the measures taken by the government to deal with terrorism and said that nearly 200 people have been convicted of terrorism or terrorist-related offences in Britain since 2001. He later added: “And that is why I say our foreign policy must be both patriotic and internationalist: a foreign policy that recognises and exploits Britain’s unique strengths, and defends Britain’s national interests strongly – not by retreating into isolation, but by advancing in international co-operation.”
The raided properties in Manchester have been sealed by police in order for thorough searches to be carried out.
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