Britain Arrests 9 in Anti-Terror Raids

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Nine Arrested in British Terror Sweep
British police arrested nine people in the central England city of Birmingham, as part of a "major counterterrorism operation," police said. British media reported that an alleged plot involved a potential "Iraq-style" kidnapping of a Muslim soldier in the British army.

Ditta, the Alum Rock businessman and a member of the mosque a block from Khan's General Store, noted that none of the nine men had been charged. Under new anti-terrorism laws, police can hold suspects without charge for up to 28 days. Many times, he said, there have been high-profile raids and then days later the detainees are let go without charge.

He said he believes police could and should make arrests more quietly because these dramatic arrests, with dozens of officers breaking down doors and windows with hammers, are unfairly harming Muslim communities.

Tariq Khan, a Birmingham City Council member who represents the neighborhood, joined the street scene of police, TV cameras and large numbers of neighbors. He said he wanted people to know that "ninety-nine percent of these people are law-abiding citizens."

Others in Birmingham said they supported the police. "If they saved a life, it is certainly worth it," said Paul Hockney, a construction worker. "These raids have become the norm -- how sad is that? Our country is in big trouble."

Several miles from Alum Rock, police were standing guard Wednesday night outside an electronics shop and had shut down an Islamic bookstore. The Maktabah Al Ansaar bookshop has drawn scrutiny for years from British and U.S. counterterrorism investigators.

In 1999, the shop published the autobiography of Dhiren Barot, a Hindu convert to Islam who was arrested in 2004 and charged with plotting to bomb financial targets in New York, New Jersey and Washington on behalf of al-Qaeda. A British judge sentenced him in November to life in prison.

One of the store's former employees is Moazzem Begg, a British citizen who traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 and was arrested in January 2002 and imprisoned at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Begg was released in January 2005 without being charged with a crime.

Sullivan reported from London. Correspondent Craig Whitlock in Berlin and special correspondent Karla Adam in London contributed to this report.