Random Car Stop Lifts UK Terror Arrests to 13

No Links Between Arrests, Olympics Insist Officials

British police randomly stopped a vehicle they suspected of being “uninsured” earlier today, discovering guns and unspecified “other materials” hidden inside and sparking new arrests that led to more detainees accused of terrorism.

The arrests of seven people today comes just days after the arrests of six other people in London as part of a “counter-terror” sweep. Officials insist today’s arrests have nothing to do with the London arrests, and that neither has anything to do with the Olympic Games.

The seven people arrested today amounted to two unloaded pistols found in the car, while the other round is even less clear, centering mostly on one of them being a “Muslim convert” who had publicly criticized the Royal Family.

Everyone is being held of charges of “suspicion of preparing or instigating acts of terrorism,” but there is no indication so far that any of them actually planned to do anything specific. Britain insists that after the arrests the terror threat is “substantial.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.