Al-Qaida suspect held in Belfast

A MAN with suspected links to al-Qaida was questioned in Belfast yesterday by detectives investigating possible terrorist plots in Britain.

He is of North African origin and was detained in Belfast.

Police revealed yesterday they had asked a magistrate to give them further time for him to be interviewed.

A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed: “A man is being questioned about serious crime and of possessing information likely to be of use to terrorists.”

It is understood that police officers in Northern Ireland had been acting on “good intelligence” when they moved in to detain him.

Security services in Britain were immediately alerted after information allegedly found in his possession was examined. Detectives believe he had been living in Belfast for some time, but it was not known if he had been in England at any stage.

It is understood the man, an Algerian, was arrested on Monday night.

He was then taken for questioning to Antrim, but is now at Gough Barracks, Armagh City.

He can he held for up to another 72 hours. A judge granted detectives additional time to question the man.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde confirmed the man was being questioned about international terrorism.

“We have a man in custody, we have been given 72 hours longer by a magistrate to interview him on a number of matters which are related to international terrorism,” he said.

“He has been in custody for a short period of time, we are looking at serious criminal matters.

“It does show that Northern Ireland is not exempted from the international terrorism dimension and what we have proved by this arrest and this detention is that we are determined to fight terrorism at every level, not just local terrorism.”