Police detain terror suspects

SEVEN men were being questioned by anti-terrorism detectives yesterday after being detained in two separate swoops in Edinburgh and London, police said.

The men, in their 30s and of north African origin, were arrested early yesterday morning and detained under the Terrorism Act.

Police sources indicated that there had been no specific threat to Scotland, but would not be drawn on whether other parts of Britain could have been potential targets.

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police, which led the operation, said: "All seven men have been detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 and will be held at a secure location while inquiries continue."

The Metropolitan Police said its officers had assisted Scottish police who had travelled to London to co-ordinate the arrests. Police raided an address in west London at 6.10am and detained four men, a spokesman said.

"They have been taken to Scotland to a secure location where they will be interviewed," he added.

The arrests came two days after French police arrested four alleged Islamic radicals in a Paris suburb and seized an unidentified liquid and an anti-contamination suit.

French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the four three Algerians and a Moroccan had been in contact with Rabah Kadre, who was charged in Britain last month with two other suspects on terrorism-related charges.

Mr Sarkozy indicated that they were planning an attack, saying that "with these four individuals, it was better to arrest them before rather than after", although he refused to elaborate.

Agents also seized $5,000, a computer and extremist Islamic documents when they took the four into custody in the suburb of La Courneuve.

Mr Sarkozy said the apartment raided also contained false identity papers, two vials of an undetermined liquid and a protective military suit against biological, chemical and nuclear risks.

The chemicals could be used to pollute public drinking water systems.

Shortly after the al-Qaida attacks on America on September 11, 2001, the British Government introduced emergency legislation allowing foreign nationals to be detained indefinitely without charge.

Foreign nationals whose presence is not conducive to the public good can be held under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act, 2001, although they are free to leave the country.

Civil liberties groups said the emergency laws amounted to internment, and were irrational and disproportionate. The arrests underlined the threat of international terror, said the official spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Downing Street was not aware of any connections between yesterday's arrests and those made in Paris, a spokesman said.

He stressed the high level of co-operation between governments and their security services.

"What it does show is governments across the world are vigilant to the threat from international terrorism and we will take whatever action we can to prevent acts of terrorism," he said.

A Lothian and Borders police spokesman later said no connection has yet been established with the French arrests. He said: "We are not aware of any link with the arrests in Paris earlier this week."

It is understood that the Edinburgh swoop was in the Jock's Lodge residential area, near Meadowbank Stadium in the east of the city.