Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

separate addresses in Luton under the Terrorism Act 2000 by unarmed Metropolitan
Police officers assisted by Bedfordshire Police in an intelligence-led operation.
On May 1, seven people were arrested on suspicion of funding overseas terrorism with
money linked to smuggling of the stimulant khat. Six men and a woman were arrested in
London, Coventry, and Cardiff in early morning raids by counterterrorism officers. The
arrests were part of an international probe into alleged terrorist fundraising and moneylaundering.
On May 15, more than 100 Cheltenham residents attended a meeting called by police
after two local men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offenses. The pair, aged 52
and 31, was initially held under the Explosive Substances Act after suspicious items were
found in a garage. In a sign of a strong community-oriented policing program,
representatives from the police, the fire service, and the Cheltenham Borough Council
answered questions to reassure residents. The arrests came after police found suspicious
items in a garage in Buttermere Close in the Up Hatherley area of the town. About 100
houses were evacuated but residents were allowed to return to their homes following
controlled explosions carried out by a bomb disposal team.
On June 28, two men were arrested in London on suspicion of terrorist offenses. The
men, aged 18 and 32, were held under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the
commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism. Officers searched both of the
addresses where the suspects lived.
On June 29, Minh Quang Pham, who was wanted in the United States for terrorismrelated
offenses, was arrested in the UK, and was remanded in custody. An indictment
released by the U.S. Department of Justice accused Pham of providing material support
to al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula and receiving military-style training while he was
in Yemen.
On June 30, following a routine traffic stop of a vehicle near Sheffield, South Yorkshire,
three men from the West Midlands were arrested and charged with terrorist offenses after
police found guns, knives, machetes, and a home-made explosive device. Jewel Uddin,
26, Omar Mohammed Khan, 27, and Mohammed Hasseen, 23, all from Sparkhill,
Birmingham, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused of preparing for an act
or acts of terrorism with the intention of committing such acts. They were accused of
manufacturing an improvised explosive device, as well as acquiring firearms and other
weapons, and vehicles connected with their alleged plans to attack the anti-Islamic group,
English Defense League, who had held a rally in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, earlier that
day.
On September 30, four men stabbed a visiting General from India, Lieutenant General
Kuldeep Singh Brar. Lieutenant General Brar, who survived the stabbing, led the 1984
raid on Sikhism's holiest shrine. The stabbing is being treated as an attack by violent
extremists and there have been at least 11 follow-up arrests in connection with the case.
On October 4, a brother and sister from Birmingham were arrested under the Terrorism
Act, and were freed on police bail. West Midlands Police said the pair, aged 23 and 18,
was suspected of possessing documents likely to be of use to someone committing or
preparing an act of terrorism. They were arrested at an address in the Small Heath
district. Police added the arrests had been pre-planned and not made in response to any
threat to public safety. Computers and other electronic devices were seized for forensic
examination.
On October 5, Abu Hamza al Masri, Babar Ahmad, Syed Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary,
and Khaled al-Fawwaz were extradited to the United States to face terrorism charges.
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