British Court Extends Custody for Nine Terrorism Suspects, Frees One
23 August 2006
A British court has given authorities more time to question nine of 11 suspects about their alleged roles in this month's foiled terrorist plot to blow up U.S. airliners departing from London's Heathrow airport.
The court ruled Wednesday police could keep eight suspects for another week, and one suspect until Thursday without filing charges. A 10th suspect was freed without charge, and a ruling on custody extension for an 11th suspect is expected shortly.
British anti-terrorism laws allow police to detain terrorism suspects for a maximum of 28 days without charges, but they must get regular court approval.
A total of 11 other suspects already have been charged. Of those, eight are accused of conspiracy to commit murder, and preparing to commit terrorism. The other three face related charges.
All of the defendants are residents of Britain, and are under 30 years of age. They all are said to deny any wrongdoing.
In Pakistan, seven more suspects are being held in police custody.
British authorities say they have seized bomb-making materials, suicide notes and martyrdom videos in their ongoing probe. Other evidence is said to include fingerprints and DNA, and data from 400 computers and 200 cell phones.
Britain revealed the bombing plot on August 10.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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