Posted on 06/03/2006 10:02:48 AM PDT by FairOpinion
Dozens of police are still searching the house at the centre of a suspected chemical bomb plot, as a family arrested by police during the raid denied any involvement in terrorism activity.
In a statement released this afternoon, the family said it "would like to make it clear that we are completely innocent and in no way involved in any terrorist activity".
The family said they wanted to express their "deep shock and anger" at the raid in the early hours of yesterday morning, when armed officers descended on their family terraced house in east London.
Spokesman Asad Rehman initially said the family were related to two men in an adjoining house who were arrested during the raid - one 23-year-old after he had been shot in the shoulder.
However, he later insisted that the two households were "totally separate", despite the fact that their houses were interconnected.
At least eight police vans full of officers arrived at the scene today to relieve their colleagues who have been searching the property through the night.
Some of the officers have been working for more than 24 hours since the raid took place.
Officers could be seen changing out of their rubber biological and chemical suits and other protective clothing, including gloves and overshoes, in the street outside the house.
The shot man was later arrested under the Terrorism Act after being treated for the gunshot wound in the Royal London Hospital, where he is still recovering.
A 20-year-old man, thought to be his brother, was also held in the raid, which involved 250 police officers, MI5 and bio-chemical experts, and is still in custody.
The neighbours of the raided house on Lansdown Road, Forest Gate, said today that they "never expected" to be at the centre of a massive police operation.
The man and woman, who have two teenage children, said police offered to send them to a hotel yesterday evening "for their safety", but they chose to stay instead at a relative's house further down the road.
The woman, who declined to be named, said her neighbours were ordinary people.
She said: "We knew them of course. But only to say hello and goodbye to. This is totally unexpected. It was a shock."
Ashish Khetani, 19, who has lived opposite the raided house for 18 years, said residents suspected the street was being watched for about three months.
He said: "For about three months, one at either end of the road, they have been sitting there from 9am until 6pm in the evening.
"They were undercover but we knew they were police because of the phones, cups of tea and papers. We knew they were police."
Yesterday, the Metropolitan Police's head of anti-terrorism, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, said "very specific" intelligence had pointed to a terrorist threat. Surveillance had been in place for weeks.
Detectives believe a plot was being hatched to use a chemical device in the UK but do not believe it was linked to the July 7 bombings in London last year.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission immediately launched an investigation into the shooting which will be overseen by Deborah Glass, the IPCC Commissioner for London and the South East.
And something very few remember -- in 2001, before the 9-11 attacks, a plot was foiled:
Bin Laden British cell planned gas attack on European Parliament
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/binladenB.htm
ISLAMIC terrorists based in Britain and controlled by Osama bin Laden planned a devastating attack in February on the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.
A six-strong terror cell funded by the Saudi fugitive planned to kill all 625 Euro-MPs, and scores of officials, by releasing sarin gas into the parliament building.
The attack was scheduled to take place during the session of parliament from February 11 to 14 this year and was to be the first in a series of assaults against prominent buildings across Europe. Algerian terrorists based in London and funded directly by bin Laden worked with counterparts in Milan and Frankfurt.
The plot was foiled after German police smashed the Frankfurt operation in a series of raids. The British-based six men were arrested and charged with offences under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The charges were subsequently dropped just days after the men appeared at Horseferry Road magistrates' court, London. The Crown Prosecution Service said that the decision was made for security reasons.
Senior Special Branch officials have told The Telegraph that the decision to cease action was prompted by a request from MI5. It is believed that the intelligence agency had uncovered details of further atrocities and wanted to monitor the group.
Details of the plan were kept secret from Euro-MPs. They were, however, sent an e-mail giving a warning about lapsed security in the building. One said: "Even after the e-mail was sent we still have a situation where people can wander in and out of the building."
In particular, there was concern that rules whereby visitors were supposed to present passports at the main reception were being ignored.
The Euro-MP added: "Many of the British MEPs in particular are concerned about security. Hardly anyone checks passes. The only time any one cares is at meal times and that is so they can control the numbers in the canteen."
Sarin gas is an easily made chemical weapon, 26 times more deadly than cyanide. Developed during the Second World War by the Nazis, it is odourless and almost impossible to detect. Its potential for use in a large crowd was proved when Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese cult, killed 12 people and affected 5,000 more using sarin gas on the Tokyo underground in March 1995.
A spokesman for the European Parliament said: "We take all threats to security seriously and are constantly monitoring the situation."
The disclosure that the European Parliament was a target will raise concerns about the activities of bin Laden's followers in Britain and Europe. The Telegraph has learnt that the Special Branch in London is also examining allegations that two mosques in London have raised funds for a number of his terrorist organisations in the past few weeks.
One London mosque, where Afghans pray, has allegedly raised funds for the terror group al'Qaeda, run by bin Laden. Abu Hamza, the Egyptian-born cleric, has been accused of collecting funds for other proscribed groups at the Finsbury Park mosque.
Officers last year closed a community centre attached to a mosque in Birmingham after money was raised to help train British-born terrorists operating in Kashmir.
British activists, who have supported bin Laden's activities in the past, have also established a base in America. The Al Muhajiroun movement, members of which have called for a jihad, or permanent holy war, overseas, has set up in New York.
The organisation's founder, Sheikh Omar Bakri, one of the leaders of Britain's fundamentalist Islamic community, defended last week's attacks on America but denounced the civilian deaths.
He said: "The US Government and its military forces are a legitimate target as far as Islam is concerned. The American Government is engaged in aggression and atrocities against Muslims in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and Sudan and supporting the pirate state of Israel."
The movement's new US members remain in close contact with followers in Britain, Pakistan and Lebanon. Anjem Choudary, who has now assumed responsibility for Al Muhajiroun, also condemned last week's attacks on civilians.
He claimed, however, that America had incited the response. "America itself has committed many atrocities in Muslim countries. You only have to see the strength in countries like Palestine to see how some people feel," he said.
It is not the first time that British fundamentalists have extended their operations to America. Last year The Telegraph revealed that a company called Sakina Security was training volunteers to handle explosives and guns at a base in the United States.
The company, which is under investigation by the FBI, has set up a bank account in London to raise funds for anti-Israeli forces among the Palestinians.
Security officials believe that as many as 5,000 young Muslims in Britain may support bin Laden. Most show their solidarity by making regular financial contributions, but about one in five of these supporters is believed to have taken part in some form of active military service abroad.
Dozens have also taken part in secret military training in sessions in Britain, after which they were drafted into the military wing of the International Islamic Front founded by bin Laden in 1998.
A number of such British volunteers later died during active service for Islamic forces in the conflicts in Chechnya, Bosnia and Afghanistan. Another was killed on a suicide mission after being recruited to the cause through a London-based group, Al-Maddad.
The full extent of bin Laden's British network was revealed during the trial in New York this year of four men in connection with the bombings in Africa and other plots to kill US citizens.
Some key figures in 21 terrorist groups outlawed in March by Jack Straw, the then Home Secretary, under the provisions of the new Prevention of Terrorism Act have gone into hiding since they were banned this year.
The ban is intended to prevent them from raising funds, recruiting or in any way supporting terrorist operations abroad. Sixteen of the banned groups are Islamic organisations led by bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
Some British volunteers who have fought for bin Laden are listed among the dead on "martyr websites", set up after the US cruise missile attack on bin Laden's camps following the 1998 bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Khalid al Fawwaz, the leader of another suspected bin Laden organisation in Britain, is among six men being held in Brixton jail awaiting extradition to America over his alleged part in the embassy bombings.
He denies that his Advice and Reformation Committee was a front for bin Laden and he has been in prison for more than a year fighting the US request.
UK and Canada. The Islamist (ROP) vermin enemy within are busy little bees these days. Stay alert. In time, the word will be "kill on sight".
Canada just rolled up a cell, as well. The Jihadists are moving...
Sound's very much like "the family" are being well coached by a lawyer.
Something big is brewing, and we're seeing the first signs of it.
Concur. Something is brewing. The sentiment was voiced her on FR after the Tampa bus incident. Now with RCMP and 5 in England conducting raids, Im a little more confident that people are paying attention..
Only when people have seen sufficient terrorist incidents is this war really going to come home and be able to be fought properly.
That means that radical Islamofascists succeed in sufficient terror attempts, and that radical Jews and Americans and Brits and others start to return fire in like manner by indiscriminatly bombing Muslims homes and such. We'll start to live in gated communities of close neighbors, trusting only those we know well and keeping an very close eye on them. We'll avoid contact with anybody outside and our business with them will be conducted remotely whenever possible.
Only then, when it becomes clear that having a terrorist in their midst is likely to inspire indiscriminate retailiation, will the "peaceful" neighbors and "residents who suspected the street was being watched" start to assist law enforcement themselves instead of forcing the police to attempt this type of undercover operation. Only then will many people come to recognize how important it is that LE have the tools and latitude and court environment it needs to overcome the terrorists.
It is likely that the home has been purged of much evidence of the activity - if other residents suspected being watched, the bad guys certainly did, too. Willing neighbors could have been a great help.
I believe you're right. I won't be surprised to hear the threat level is raised soon, even if just on "chatter". I am very concerned about that school bus incident... it is eeriely like the way the 9/11 terrorists took dry run trips on US airlines in preparing for their attack, and the way they used one very noticeable guy as a decoy in order to sneak another past immigration (and other) authorities.
God Bless our protectors.
I wonder about the timing, too.
There were a couple in Georgia...just heard (Fox News) it/they may be related to the Canadian action today.
"Willing neighbors could have been a great help."
Would you get that in a Muslim neighborhood?
"Something big is brewing, and we're seeing the first signs of it."
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I am afraid you are right and I am not sure we will be able to foil all the attacks.
In the interest of accuracy -
Reports on the Canadians say they were attempting to acquire ammonium nitrate - nothing says they had any material capable of doing anything.
Reports from London say that the police believe the device exists, nothing about it being "deployed". As of now, the search has turned up nothing suspicious.
Reports from Tampa likewise show nothing suspicious in these mens actions.
It appears that the investigators are doing their job, and the sky is not falling.
You aren't playing apologist for the terrorists, no sir ... "Reports from Tampa likewise show nothing suspicious in these mens actions." The very act of getting onto a school bus was suspicious, add to that these perps have been in the US for months and they have traveled around the world to get here, they're Saudis ... oh never mind, CAIR is getting their money's worth from you if they're paying you.
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