A British terror cell linked to the Paris and Brussels attacks has been uncovered in Birmingham, raising fears of a plot to launch an Isil outrage in the UK.
Four men, aged 26, 40 and 59, and a woman aged 29 were arrested last Thursday night and Friday morning by counter-terrorism police after a five-month investigation.
The operation is understood to be linked to the arrest of the so-called "man in the hat" bomber Mohamed Abrini, who was involved in the attacks in both France and Belgium, and is known to have visited the UK.
Police last Friday confirmed that bomb disposal teams had found a "suspicious substance" at the home of one of the suspects, indicating a possible bomb plot.
Police said there was no specific intelligence to suggest an imminent attack. But senior Whitehall sources last night described the arrests as "significant", while politicians said they highlighted the dangers of free movement around Europe as the EU referendum approaches.
Abrini is known to have travelled from Syria into Europe during the migrant crisis and then moved freely across the continent. He came to the UK last summer and visited Birmingham, Manchester and London before heading back to rejoin a wider terror network that carried out the attacks on Paris and Brussels.
Intelligence services believe the operation involved cells in the UK, but until now no arrests had been made. They come less than a week after the seizure in Belgium of Abrini, who was last seen on CCTV fleeing the Brussels airport bombing last month. It raises the prospect that the swoop in Birmingham was a result of details gleaned after Abrini's arrest.
West Midlands Police were already investigating possible connections to the Paris cell after reports first emerged in December that one of them may have visited the city.
Police refused to say where the man had flown from. However, he is not believed to have been returning from Syria, raising the possibility he may have come from Belgium or France, home to the other plotters.
The five were held on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts ofterrorism, and addresses in the city were being searched last night.
Neighbours said that one of the suspects was a taxi driver with four children and had lived at the property for 20 years.
Police would not specify the alleged connection to the Paris and Brussels investigations but it could range from helping to plot attacks to fundraising.
The focus on Abrini's movements intensified after the Brussels attacks and it was feared his network may have also been plotting attacks on British soil.
The cell had "discussed launching attacks in Britain" as well as at the Euro 2016 football tournament in France, which begins in June.
Investigators managed to extract new information from a laptop discarded in a rubbish bin by Ibrahim El-Bakraoui, one of the Brussels airport bombers.
The computer files showed the bomber discussed attacks in "other European countries" besides Belgium, starting with France. "Great Britain is also mentioned as a potential target," a European intelligence source said.
It was also reported that investigators obtained a taped conversation between Najim Laachraoui, the suspected bombmaker in the Paris and Brussels attacks, and a "foreign contact" in which Britain was also mentioned.
Any UK connections to Abrini will fuel concerns about the ease with which he was able to travel around Europe and the free movement given to EU citizens.
