Woman held in terror investigation
Publisher: Ryan Davies
Published: 01/07/2007 - 16:06:46 PM
A fifth arrest was made in Liverpool. Photo: Martin Rickett/PA wire
A woman is among those being questioned over the nationwide terror alert, it emerged today.
The 27-year-old was arrested with a 26-year-old man on the M6 last night and they are being interviewed at a central London police station, Scotland Yard said.
The development came as the country remained on its highest state of alert after three failed car bombings in London and Glasgow.
Police have linked an attempt to ram a blazing Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow Airport yesterday to the discovery of two car bombs in the capital\'s West End on Friday.
Two men inside the Jeep were arrested at the airport, though one of them suffered severe burns after being engulfed in flames and is now in a critical condition in hospital.
Anti-terror officers from the Met and West Midlands Police later made the arrests on the M6 near Sandbach in Cheshire.
Today it was confirmed that a fifth arrest had been made, this time in Liverpool.
Scotland Yard said a 26-year-old man was held and two properties in the Liverpool area were being searched.
A large number of police descended on a house in a street just off Penny Lane in south Liverpool.
Officers were also searching a number of houses in the village of Houston, near Glasgow Airport, in connection with the attack there.
The Government yesterday raised the national terror threat level to "critical", its highest level, meaning an attack is expected "imminently".
Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned today that the threat to Britain was "long-term and sustained".
He said Britain\'s message to the terrorists must be: "We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life."
In his first broadcast interview since becoming PM on Wednesday, he said it was "clear" that the attacks in London and Glasgow were perpetrated by people who were associated with the global Islamist terror network al Qaida.
He urged the public to continue "living their lives as normal" and pledged: "Everything is being done in our power... to protect people\'s lives".
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith today chaired a meeting of the emergency contingencies committee Cobra, and told reporters outside the Home Office she had been updated on the latest security situation.
She thanked police and the emergency services for their "continued hard work" over the last 24 hours and confirmed she would make a statement to MPs in the House of Commons tomorrow.
The Jeep was driven into the main doors of the airport before bursting into flames at about 3.15pm yesterday.
Part of the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley was evacuated yesterday after the arrival of one of the men arrested at the airport when a "suspect device" was found on his body.
But Strathclyde Police denied reports this device was a "suicide vest" after having it examined by explosives experts.
Meanwhile travellers started flying in and out of the airport again.
The first flights touched down almost 17 hours after the terrorist attack, shortly before 8am.
A spokesman for BAA Glasgow said 20 flights in and out had been cancelled so far today.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport was also closed overnight while police investigated a suspicious vehicle.
It was taken away for forensic examination and the airport was reopened at 4.40am, Merseyside Police said.
The rest of Britain\'s airports will stay open until further notice with a heightened police guard.
Most are bolstering security by closing off roads leading to the terminal buildings.
The Glasgow attack followed the discovery of two cars loaded with explosives in London\'s busy West End early on Friday morning.
The first, a Mercedes packed with a deadly cargo of petrol, gas canisters and nails, was found by paramedics called to the Tiger Tiger nightclub shortly before 2am after a person was taken ill.
The ambulance crew spotted smoke inside the car and immediately called police.
Sources suggested one of the first officers on the scene averted disaster by disconnecting a mobile phone in the car which may have been used to trigger the explosion.
The second car, also a Mercedes, was issued with a parking ticket in Cockspur Street, just yards from the first vehicle, at about 2.30am.
It was taken to a car pound off Park Lane by Westminster Council at around 3.30am.
Workers at the compound were immediately suspicious of the car because it had a strong smell of petrol. But it was not until later when they heard about the news of the first car bomb they contacted authorities.
Extra officers are being deployed to the capital\'s landmarks and main train stations, as well as Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, Scotland Yard said.
People attending today\'s memorial concert for Diana, Princess of Wales, at Wembley Stadium were warned to expect delays because of more thorough searches.
About 450 officers were on duty to police the event.
Neighbours at an address stormed by armed police last night in Liverpool told of their shock at the raid.
Rachal Tansey, 27, a student who has just qualified as a barrister, lived over the road from the house raided in Ramiles Road in south Liverpool.
Miss Tansey said: "It was about 1am when I heard dogs barking, and I left it for a while and just hoped they would quieten down, but they didn\'t."
"I looked out of the bathroom window and saw men with big guns, and they barged into number 80. There was a bit of a commotion. It was shocking, I kept backing off from the curtains and the police helicopter was overhead. I saw at least four officers in dark clothing."
Miss Tansey said she didn\'t know the people who lived at the address, though the area is heavily populated with students and Asian people, with a mosque on a neighbouring street.
She added: "I\'m shocked at what\'s going on, you don\'t expect it to be happening outside your own home."
Declan Murphy, 22, from Buncrana, County Donegal, was with a group of students in a house at the top of the road.
He looked out of the window when he heard dogs barking.
"There was a man with a gun outside the window and I panicked," said Mr Murphy, a student at John Moores University.
"At first I thought it was something to do with drugs then the whole Glasgow thing came to mind and we thought it must have been terrorism."
Mr Murphy said he saw eight or nine policemen with guns and a helicopter was hovering overhead. There were also police dog vans.
Melissa Heywood, 21, from Buxton, studying teaching at the same university, who was also in the house, added: "I saw policemen outside the house with guns. They seemed to cover each other going to and from the house pointing their guns at the front door and the upper window. They were positioning themselves behind a jeep."
"It\'s almost like they were trying to think about how to get into the house."
Police officers told them to stay indoors and the operation carried on for a number of hours.
The students believe two Asian men lived at the address and they heard a commotion in the alleyway at the back of the property.
Police also raided a second house on Hatherley Street in Toxteth.
Haroon Samad, 56, who lives next door to the house, said: "I heard a noise about midnight last night, a policeman shouting \'Come out with your hands up\'."
"The police were in uniform and armed."
"I saw four people, the men who live at the house, come out with their hands up, and walk calmly towards the police car on the other side of the road. Another police car was stationed at the top of the road."
"All the lads who live there are in their 20s.
Three are from Pakistanand one from the Yemen."
"They said they were students."
"The policeman later knocked on my door to apologise for the disturbance. He said later that they had been set free, and are no longer being held."
Mr Samad said all the men attended the mosque at the top of the street.
Copyright - Press Association 2007
