Sellafield terror suspects released without charge

FIVE men arrested under the Terrorism Act outside the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria were yesterday released without charge, Greater Manchester Police said.

Police continued to question the five Bangladeshi terror suspects over “suspicious” photographs taken near the Sellafield nuclear power plant.

Detectives also conducted a second day of painstaking searches at four east London homes as two counter-terror forces investigated the men’s “unusual behaviour” at the highly-secured nuclear installation in west Cumbria.

The arrests were made hours after it was revealed Osama bin Laden had been assassinated in a raid by US special forces in Pakistan.

The suspects were detained during a vehicle stop- check near the nuclear site amid suspicions they were taking pictures or footage of the site.

Earlier yesterday, a counter-terror police source said specialists at Greater Manchester Police and Scotland Yard did not believe the Sellafield suspects were imminently hatching a major terror attack.

“It is not getting people overly excited here,” the source said. “They had been acting suspiciously in an area of concern.

“They would have been spoken to under any circumstances. Now it is a case of establishing the background as to what was going on.”

The suspects, all of Bangladeshi origin, in their 20s and living in London, were stopped by officers on Monday afternoon.

The Western world has been on high alert over possible revenge attacks from al-Qaida in the wake of bin Laden’s death.

The suspects were first questioned by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, which polices the Sellafield plant which handles highly dangerous nuclear material.

They were then arrested under the Terrorism Act by officers from Cumbria Police and held in custody.