LONDON, 4 September 2006 — British police yesterday embarked on an in-depth search of the Jamiah Islamiah independent school in Crowborough in East Sussex and 17 houses and flats across London and Manchester as part of Scotland Yard’s ongoing anti-terror investigations.
Anti-terrorist officers are stepping up their questioning of 14 men arrested late Friday night – 12 at the Halal Restaurant, the Bridge to China Town in the Borough area of south London; and two people in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester in an unrelated raid.
The men in London, thought to be mainly young British Muslims of Pakistani origin, are being held at the high-security Paddington Green police station in Edgware Road.
The arrests were made under the 2006 Terrorism Act on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. This latest terror alert and raids are different to the one on Aug. 10 when police arrested 24 people in connection with an alleged plot to smuggle liquid explosives on to nine planes en route to US from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.
It has also now emerged that the jailed Muslim religious leader Abu Hamza Al-Masri booked a weekend for him and his followers at the school, but was later asked to leave the building with his coterie of 15 followers. The High Court in London sentenced Abu Hamza to seven years in prison in February 2006 for inciting Muslims to kill and stoking racial hatred. Abu Hamza is suspected of having organized terrorist training courses at the school. Abu Hamza is also facing extradition to the US to face terror charges.
In fact, one of the raids in London was at the home of religious leader Abu Abdullah in Bromley. Abu Abdullah is a protégé of Abu Hamza and has in recent weeks reportedly threatened renewed terrorist attacks in Britain and said he would “gladly” kill British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. The latest raids, which came after months of police surveillance and were intelligence-led, are aimed at sniffing out centers, which allegedly have or are being used to train extremists. According to a report by Sky News yesterday, MI5 and Scotland Yard were informed about the Jamiah Islamiah School being used as a possible terrorist training facility by one or two “non-combatants” held by the Americans at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility in Cuba.
Sky News also reported that Yemen government — which received the same information after arresting five Britons on terrorism charges in 1999 — also tipped off MI5 and British officials.
Sussex Police confirmed that searches at the school could take weeks but no arrests had been made there. Police stressed that they “are searching the buildings and woodland, and the lake will be searched as well.”
The school, established in September 2003, to provide education for Muslim boys aged 11 to 16, has been heavily criticized by the UK Schools Inspector Ofsted who last examined the school in December 2005. At the time of the inspection, the school had only nine registered pupils. The Ofsted inspection report concluded that Jamiah Islamiah School has a “significant number of major weaknesses” and although the teaching had some what improved it remains “unsatisfactory and prevents pupils making the progress of which they are capable”.
Further reports allege that Jamiah Islamiah was not officially registered by Ofsted as a faith school and that much of the money to purchase the 53-acre prime site came from a few Middle East private donors.
Scotland Yard anti-terror chief Peter Clarke has warned that “thousands” of suspected extremists are under surveillance. In February this year, police confirmed that they have uncovered evidence of adventure and military training camps for suspected extremists, to forge closer ties and for them to bond.
