The Daily Mail, clueless as ever, focuses on race — note the “white Muslim convert” in its headline, while calling the additional people arrested today “one man from West Yorkshire and six from the West Midlands,” as if there were something about West Yorkshire and the West Midlands that would make people want to go on jihad. “Seven more terror arrests as police find ‘weapons hidden in car’ just a day after Olympic round-up that saw white Muslim convert captured,” by Graham Smith, Stephen Wright and Chris Greenwood in the Daily Mail, July 6 (thanks to David):
Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after firearms and other weapons were found ‘hidden’ in a car.
One man from West Yorkshire and six from the West Midlands are being questioned on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism following a series of arrests this week, police said today.
News of the arrests comes a day after six people, including a white Muslim convert, were detained over an alleged plan to carry out a major terrorist attack, possibly during the Olympics.
A West Midlands police spokesman said that officers found material including firearms following a routine stop on the M1 in South Yorkshire last weekend.
He said: ‘The arrests followed a routine stop of a vehicle by police on the M1 motorway in South Yorkshire on Saturday. The car was impounded on suspicion of having no insurance.
‘Firearms, offensive weapons and other material were later found hidden inside, prompting police to take action to trace and arrest the driver, passenger and others suspected of being involved.’
Police said three men aged 23, 26 and 27 from Sparkhill, Birmingham, were arrested on Tuesday morning.
Three more suspects, a 22-year-old from Alum Rock, Birmingham, a 24-year-old from the Moseley area of the city, and a 22-year-old from Smethwick, West Midlands, were arrested on Wednesday evening.
A 43-year old man from Kirklees, West Yorkshire, was detained yesterday.
Detective Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell, head of the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, said: ‘As soon as the items were discovered in the impounded vehicle, our priority was to protect the public by pursuing and arresting those we believed to be involved.’
Police said the contents of the car were undergoing forensic analysis and the suspects’ homes had been searched.
Detectives have been given extra time to question the three men arrested on Tuesday, after the initial 48-hour detention period ran out. They now have until next Tuesday morning to charge or release the men, or apply for a further warrant.
All seven men are being held in the West Midlands.
The arrests come a day after a white Muslim convert who once worked as a BBC security guard was among six people arrested over an alleged plan to cause an atrocity in the UK….