Non-lethal weapon used in arrest

According to British police sources, yesterday's arrests of four terror suspects in Birmingham were the direct result of intelligence yielded following the botched London transport bombings of Thursday, July

It has been widely reported that one of those arrested under the Terrorism Act yesterday in the Hay Barns area of Birmingham is strongly suspected of being one of the 21/7 would-be suicide bombers.

A significant feature of the arrest of Yassin Hassan Omar was the use by British police of a non-lethal weapon known as a "taser" to ensure his immediate incapacitation. Mr Omar was subsequently removed to London's maximum security Paddington Green police station for detention and further questioning.

In contrast to the Stockwell tube station shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes last Friday, which involved the use of maximum force - seven pistol rounds to the head - yesterday's arrest involved the planned use of a non-lethal weapon.

Introduced to British police forces in October 2003, the taser - resembling a pistol - fires darts to a range of 10.7m (35ft). On contact with the clothing or skin of the target, the darts - connected to the taser by thin insulated copper wires - deliver a short pulse of high voltage electricity to the victim. This shock - up to 50,000 volts - overrides the motor nervous system, causing muscle contractions and the immediate incapacitation of the target.

In a period when the British authorities have confirmed a policy of "shoot-to-kill to protect" when confronting suspected suicide bombers, the calculated use of a non-lethal weapon during yesterday's arrest speaks volumes for the potential intelligence value of the suspected suicide bomber.

Despite the risk posed to arresting officers by someone believed to be a suicide bomber, yesterday's decision to use a non-lethal weapon was a significant operational gamble. Presumably based on the premise that "dead men don't talk", this bold but potentially hazardous operation may yield the vital intelligence required to further disrupt and break up al-Qaeda-influenced terrorist cells currently operating in Britain.

The role that intelligence played in securing yesterday's arrests and the potential intelligence value of those detained will no doubt lend credence and urgency to Tony Blair's plans to increase the period of detention under Britain's anti-terror laws from 14 days to three months.

Such desperate measures, it will be argued, surely reflect the desperate operational contingencies facing British police, along with the desperate threat suicide bombers currently pose to ordinary British citizens.

Tom Clonan is The Irish Times Security Analyst