G20 Bomb Plot – Five people in London were arrested in a suspected bomb plot to disrupt the G20 summit, one day ahead of the arrival of President Obama.
In the G20 bomb plot, three men and two women have been arrested under the Terrorism Act in Plymouth over the last three days after officers uncovered a cache of weapons and suspected extremist material during a house search.
They are being questioned over claims they planned to target the meeting of the world’s most powerful political leaders in London later this week.
The five were held after officers found weapons, imitation weapons, suspicious devices and ‘material relating to political ideology’ during a house search, a police spokesman said.
Officers conducted a series of raids after a 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage on Friday evening.
As police searched his home they found weapons, imitation weapons and suspected extremist material relating to political ideology.
Several suspicious devices were also seized and sent for detailed forensic examination.
Three people at the property were arrested for drugs offences. Further investigations led police to a 19-year-old man who was arrested yesterday and now all five have now been detained under the Terrorism Act.
The men, aged 25, 19 and 16, and two women, both aged 20, who all live in Plymouth, remain in custody, a police spokesman said.
One source said the group are political activists who may have aspired to disrupt the G20 summit, but not to injure or kill.
It is understood search teams have found a small number of suspicious devices that indicate any action would have been on a small scale.
Officers in Plymouth uncovered a cache of weapons, suspicious devices and suspected extremist material after arresting a man on suspicion of criminal damage.
The devices have been sent for further forensic examination and police have not ruled out further searches as the net widens.
Police said the investigation is not linked to any particular religious group and centres around ‘political activity involving British nationals’.
Scotland Yard has issued warnings that protesters are planning to bring the City of London to a standstill with high-profile protests this week.
The G20 summit, to be held at the Excel arena in London’s Docklands, has been described by senior officers as the capital’s most challenging police operation for a decade.
Several thousand officers will be on duty when the leaders of the world’s 20 richest countries, including US President Barack Obama, descend on the capital.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘We would stress that the investigation is at a very early stage and that speculation regarding the capability, intention or motivation of those arrested is unhelpful.
‘At the current time we have no information to suggest a change to the threat picture facing either the demonstrations or G20.
‘The Metropolitan Police has said that we are seeing an unprecedented level of activity amongst protest groups not seen since the late 1990s, involving some individuals we have not seen on the protest circuit for some time.
‘However, while these individuals are talking about what they would like to happen, we are unsure of how much of this is achievable or simply aspiration.’
A police source said: ‘Three men and two women are being held. Items have been seized which would come under the Explosives Act rather than bomb-making equipment.
‘It would seem they were in possession of material which would not have the potential for causing injury so much as disruption.’
And that’s the latest news on the G20 Bomb Plot.
Tags: barack obama, g20 bomb plot, g20 meeting, london, terror attack
April 15th, 2009 at 9:52 am
That’s pretty creepy…