Plymouth 'terror' arrests

[ian neal]

Lots of coverage here

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=plymouth+terrorist&meta=&aq=f&o q=

However this typically hysterical Daily Express reporting caught my eye. Might this be the same Peter Power of July 7 infamy offering such banal speculation? If so, I wasn't aware that he was a "former senior officer with Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorism Branch".

POLICE SEIZE WEAPONS AS FIVE ARE HELD IN G20 'TERROR PLOT'

SEIZURE: Five held in G20 'terror plot'
Tuesday March 31,2009
By Cyril Dixon and John Twomey DETECTIVES investigating a G20 “terror plot” arrested five people yesterday and seized weapons including an imitation AK-47 assault rifle, handguns and fireworks.


The haul was made after officers held a 25-year-old man for allegedly spraying graffiti on a wall in Plymouth.

They discovered the cache during raids on addresses in the city before swooping on four other suspects – two males, aged 16 and 19, and two women of 20.

Yesterday, all five were being detained at Launceston police station under the Terrorism Act as officers were granted extra time to question them.

The arrests were the most dramatic development in the build-up to Thursday’s G20 summit, marred by threats of mob violence.

Scotland Yard has warned of “unprecedented levels” of protest for the London Docklands gathering of world leaders, including US President Barack Obama.

However, police sources said those arrested – four Britons and one Greek – were not among dangerous “hard-line” anarchists identified by intelligence services.


‘There is a fuzzy line between aggressive protest and terrorism’



Although they found “material relating to political ideology” the suspects did not belong to a particular radical group.

The guns recovered – including the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle – were understood to be incapable of firing live ammunition. One source said the group are political activists who may have wanted to disrupt the summit without harming anyone. Paul Netherton, Assistant Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: “Further searches are ongoing and a number of items have been submitted for forensic examination.”

He described the weapons as “not major” and “probably not even lethal” and the arrests were an “isolated incident”, adding: “Police will be applying for warrants and further detention orders under the Terrorism Act in order to continue to search various properties in the Plymouth area and to interview the five suspects.”

The graffiti which sparked the arrests contained the word Antifa – the name of a German umbrella group of anti-fascists. Peter Power, a former senior officer with Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorism Branch, said: “These people may just consider themselves to be aggressive protesters. But there is a fuzzy line between that and walking backwards into the area of being a terrorist.”

Scotland Yard said: “We have no information to suggest a change to the threat picture facing either the demonstrations or G20.”

Police ruled out a link with Muslim convert Nicky Reilly, 22, jailed for 18 years in January for a failed nail bomb attack on an Exeter cafe.

[kbo234]

This from Craig Murray today:

April 17, 2009
When in Trouble, Play the Terrorism Card

With massive pressure on the government, and on Jacqui Smith in particular, I can tell you what will happen next. The government will play the terrorism card, just as it did last weekend.

The Great Manchester Easter Bomb Plot was a bit of a damp squib. It is only a week ago, but it seems an age, since Gordon Brown told us he had foiled "a very big terror plot" and we had dramatic police swoops and the arrests of twelve "Islamic Extremists" in the North West. Eleven of them are still held without charge.

But the Great Easter Bomb Plot lacked any bombs. Or firearms. Or detonators. They have found some photographs of Manchester and a small quantity of sugar, which we have been assured can be a component of an explosive.

The police will be under huge pressure now to come up with something else. Household bleach would be good. Or even better a confession from one of the teenagers held without charge and interrogated for over a week now, who may be persuaded to turn evidence against the others.

Expect an announcement this weekend, to move the news agenda on from Ian Tomlinson. And expect a statement from Jacqui Smith by Monday at the latest. It will go like this:

Grave terrorist threat foiled - could have been massive atrocity - imminent threat - constant vigilance - reliable intelligence indicates - communication intercepts - photographs of potential targets - possible explosive ingredients - * - bs - *.

Then expect all the "opposition" MPs to rally round and sing the national anthem, and Jacqui Smith to be saved until David Blunkett comes back in the summer reshuffle.