British police said today they would bring no charges against any of the 12 men held in counter-terrorism raids earlier this month aimed at foiling a suspected al-Qaeda plot.
The men, 11 Pakistanis and one Briton, were arrested around northwest England as part of an operation against what Prime Minister Gordon Brown called at the time a "very big terrorist plot."
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said all the suspects, aged between 22 and 38, had been released although 11 had been handed over to immigration officials and face deportation on national security grounds.
Police said prosecutors had advised there was insufficient evidence to justify holding the men any longer or bringing charges.
"As there are ongoing issues of matters of national security around this investigation, it does limit what we are able to say," said GMP chief constable Peter Fahy, adding the inquiry had been "extremely complex."
"We had a duty to act to protect the public and a subsequent duty to investigate what lay before us. We don't take these decisions lightly and only carry out this kind of action if it is wholly justified."
The raids had to be launched several hours ahead of schedule after a blunder by top counter-terrorism officer Bob Quick.
A document on the operation was photographed as Mr Quick carried it into 10 Downing Street to brief Mr Brown, putting it in the public domain and threatening the secrecy of the police raids. Mr Quick resigned a day later.
Media reports at the time of the arrests said police believed a large attack in Britain was in its final stages. Unnamed sources were quoted as saying it would have been a "very, very big attack."
Mr Brown angered Pakistani officials after the April 8th arrests by calling on Pakistan to do more to "root out the terrorist elements in its country."
Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan responded by saying Britain should do more by allowing Pakistan to scrutinise people applying for visas.
Several plots to launch attacks on Britain have had links to Pakistan, including suicide bombings in 2005 which killed 52 people on three trains and a bus in London.
The Muslim Council of Britain condemned Mr Brown for his remarks over the arrests. Spokesman Inayat Bunglawala said the decision to seek to deport the men following their release was "a very dishonourable way of proceeding."
"When these arrests took place, in very dramatic circumstances with students being pulled from universities and thrown to the floor, we were told by the prime minister no less that this was part of a very big terrorist plot," he said.
"We would hope that senior ministers and the prime minister will understand that it is completely unfair to make prejudicial and premature remarks in cases like this."
Reuters