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Hunt for London chemical bomb
04/06/2006 09:29 - (SA)
London - British anti-terrorist officers searched a house and two workplaces on Saturday for evidence of a possible chemical bomb plot as two suspects detained by police denied any links with terrorism.
The search followed a police raid on a home in the east of the capital a day earlier in which one of the suspects, a 23-year-old man, was shot in the shoulder and wounded.
Police said they had acted on intelligence that suggested the house may have been used to make bombs or chemical weapons.
They have said nothing suspicious was found in an initial search and acknowledged intelligence may have been wrong.
Police also carried out further "small searches" at the workplaces of the two men detained in the raid that involved more than 250 officers, some dressed in chemical suits.
A police source told Reuters officers were looking for "some form of viable chemical device" in the house.
"A device that would have a fatal effect on someone standing nearby both from the explosion and from the chemical it contained," the source said, adding that the device being sought was a type of conventional bomb surrounded by toxic material.
If no bomb was found, it was possible the device had been moved, someone else was hiding it, that it had never been built or that the intelligence had been incorrect, the source said.
The two suspects - one recovering in hospital from his shot wound and a second being held at a police station - protested their innocence through their lawyers.
Julian Young, acting for the man being held at the police station, told Sky News: "My client denies any involvement in the commission, preparation, or instigation of terrorist offences."
Officers were granted an extension until Wednesday to question the two men, London police said in a statement.
Muslim anger
Friday's operation was one of the biggest since last July's suicide bombings on the capital's transport network although police said it was not related.
Police also detained a neighbouring family but freed them without charge. The family said it was shocked at its treatment by police.
Asan Rehman, a spokesperson for the family, told Reuters the two men still in detention were brothers, were Muslims and of Bangladeshi origin. Neighbours in the ethnically diverse area described them as friendly and "very religious".
The failure by police to immediately find evidence of criminal activity sparked anger among the large Muslim population in the Forest Gate area of London, who said they were being unfairly targeted as suspected terrorists.
Kate Roxburgh, the lawyer for the wounded man, told Sky News police had given him no warning before shooting.
Police shot dead an innocent Brazilian man in London last year after suspecting him of being a suicide bomber.
Unnamed security chiefs, quoted in newspapers, said they believed an attack had been imminent, with possible targets including underground trains or pubs crowded with fans watching the soccer World Cup tournament, which starts next week.
- Reuters
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