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Wednesday, August 27, 2008, 09:15
Community leaders said they were shocked by the swoop on an address in Normanton.
The 29-year-old man was arrested at a house in Moore Street on Tuesday for alleged offences under the Terrorism Act 2000.
News of the arrest was not released until this morning.
The Evening Telegraph understands the arrested man is of Eastern European origin.
It was part of an anti-terror operation which has seen four other arrests in the past fortnight.
Police sources said officers were investigating threats to kill Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
It is understood no actual plot was in place but that officers discovered a written threat on an extremist website earlier this year.
The internet hosts many websites from groups and individuals claiming allegiance to al Qaida and Osama bin Laden which routinely issue warnings and threats against political leaders in the UK and the US.
A police spokeswoman said: “The arrest is part of an ongoing investigation by Lancashire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Counter Terrorism Unit.”
Officers were this morning searching the Moore Street house. They said the search would take several days.
A 50-year-old neighbour who has lived in the area for four years said: “The first I saw yesterday was about three police vans but the officers weren’t saying anything to us. Some of them weren’t in uniform so I presume they were the terrorism people.
“The man lives there with his wife and two young kids. The kids are lovely and always say ‘hi’. The last I saw of the guy was about a week ago.”
The man held in Derby was the fifth to be arrested in the past two weeks.
Three were arrested at Manchester Airport and in Accrington on August 14, and a fourth was detained in Blackburn yesterday.
Today, Normanton ward councillor Hardyal Dhindsa said: “I heard about it this morning. If this person has been identified as being involved then it is obviously very serious.
“We need to wait and see whether the intelligence is correct - my hope is that it is not but if it is then it is a serious matter and the police should take all precautions necessary.
“I was a bit shocked to hear about this happening in Derby but we know that a few years ago people from Derby were implicated in a similar thing.
“But the majority of people in Derby are law-abiding - this is a very small minority.”
Shokat Lal, chairman of Derby’s Pakistani Community Centre, said: “There is obviously a sense of shock about what is going on and what the details behind the arrest are.
“Whether this is a genuine case or wether it leads to noting remains to be seen. We have seen similar arrests in the past which have led to nothing.
“It is important that people do not panic and wait to see what the outcome of the police investigation is before making assumptions.”
Margaret Beckett , the MP for Derby South, which covers Normanton, is chair of the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, which is often privy to confidential information.
She warned that it was important that the people who had been arrested got a fair and balanced hearing.
She said: “If the arrests do turn out to be connected to something significant, then I would be very sorry that anyone from the city is being considered as possibly having been involved in something so serious – now it is vital that we have a thorough investigation.”
Mrs Beckett explained that security services work in such a way that they would only have acted to arrest men when the time was right.
“We can be confident that there was enough information for them to have felt the need to do something – I don’t think they wouldn’t have taken these steps unless it was necessary,” she said.
“Previous investigations have shown that the police tend to get as much information as they can before making a move.”
But the veteran MP, who was also Foreign Secretary in 2006 and 2007, suggested that if the plot did turn out to be significant then it may signal a change in tactics from terrorist groups.
“Targeting politicians for these groups would not be completely unprecedented but it is unusual. The assumption and the experience of the security services have been much more of threats to the public at large.
“But with the plots that have been uncovered it would seem that preferred method has become more difficult.”
Labour’s Derby North MP Bob Laxton said he was shocked by the news of the arrest. “Clearly it is of concern to me that we have got people in our community who are believed to be involved in terrorism.
“We had that one case of the individual who was involved in the terrorist atrocity in Tel Aviv and there have been a number of other arrests.
“Obviously an arrest doesn’t mean that person is guilty and we will have to wait and see the outcome of the investigation.
“I am pleased to see the security sand police services have been so vigilant and acted in this way.”
Normanton ward councillor Chris Williamson said he believed the community would remain strong in the wake of the arrest.
“I’m sure the whole community will be shocked by this turn of events as I have been. “The fact is communities in Derby do live very harmoniously together. There are very strong links and relationships between communities in the city and I think that will heighten the level of shock about this.”
One Moore Street resident, a mother of three who did not want to be name, said: “I did not see the police arrive. There was a van and they were coming in and out of their house. One van arrived with police officers and then a police car got there.
“There used to be a couple living there but they moved out a few months ago.
“I was quite surprised when I saw the police there, there are so many people that come and go that you never really know who is about.
“I never thought that this kind of thing would happen down here.
“It’s very shocking and I am a bit worried.”
Aftehkar Ali, 40, works at Al Medina Butchery, said: “We are a very tight-knit community but if someone moved into rented accommodation we do not know what they are going to do here.
“This is unusual for the area, we have the odd dispute when someone has had a fight and that can be quite worrying, but what can you say about this?
“If it is something like that (referring to terrorism) the community will pull together. I am very surprised that something like that can happen on my own doorstep.
“It is very shocking.”
Another resident who doesn’t want to be named, 63 years old, lived in Moore Street for 42 years, said: "I saw the police cars down the road at about 10 in the morning.
“A lot of people just come into the area and we don’t know them.
“I can’t believe it.”
Today, Police Community Support Officers were out in Normanton explaining what has happened and reassuring the public
Local people said police were at the Moore Street house from around 7.30am yesterday. Ian Richardson, assistant manager of Home Bargains, which is on the opposite side of the street from the house, said: “There were a lot of police cars around yesterday. We got in at 7.30am and they were already here then. At the time we thought it was immigration but you don’t get police and CID for that. It was only today we heard about the terrorist links.”
A spokesman for 10 Downing Street said he could not comment on what was an ongoing investigation.
The Derby arrest followed three arrested on August 14, when three men, aged 21, 22 and 23 were detained.
Two were held at Manchester Airport as they were about to board a flight to Finland. A third was arrested in Accrington, Lancashire.
Detectives have until tomorrow to charge or release them, or seek an extension to their custody.
The fourth man, a 24-year-old arrested in Blackburn yesterday, is believed to be a white Muslim convert.
The Blackburn arrest came came after a dawn raid on a flat behind a Halal butcher’s shop, where local residents said the man – who was said to be white – lived alone.
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