All terror suspects released without charge
By politics.co.uk staff
Every terror suspect arrested by police after Bob Quick’s files were snapped by photographers has been released without charge.
Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, independent reviewer of terrorism laws, will now look at the case.
Ten of the 11 men have been referred to the UK Borders Agency.
The development is an embarrassment for the police, who launched high-profile, daylight arrests after assistant commissioner Mr Quick allowed files on the caser to be viewed by photographers as he entered Downing Street.
“We treat this matter very, very seriously. We don’t carry out these sorts of operations on a whim,” chief constable Peter Fahy said outside Greater Manchester Police headquarters today.
“We got to a stage where under the safeguards that are there, we had to put that in front of the Crown Prosecution Service and in front of a judge, and a decision was made hadn’t reached that standard.
“I do not feel embarrassed or humiliated by what we’ve done. I do not believe a mistake has been made.”
The release prompts serious questions about Whitehall claims that a “serious plot” had been foiled, but those assurances were still being made to the BBC this morning.
The ten men – Pakistani students – are expected to be deported for reasons of national security, but the eleventh is a British citizen.
