Daily Mail 27th August 2008
A white Muslim convert has been arrested in connection with threats to kill the Prime Minister which were posted on an extremist Islamic website.
The latest suspect, named locally as Mohammed Ali, was seized in a dawn raid at his flat above a butcher's shop in Blackburn on Tuesday.
His arrest came ten days after three other men were held by anti-terror police over threats to assassinate Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
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Dawn raid: A policeman stands outside the house where a fourth man has been arrested over terror offences
They include two brothers arrested as they were about to board a flight to Finland at Manchester Airport. A third was taken into custody shortly afterwards at a warehouse in Accrington.
Before his arrest Ali, 24, who is thought to have converted to Islam about four years ago, had told how he fell out with the two brothers because their views were 'too extreme'.
Anti-terror teams have spent months investigating the warnings on a recognised jihadi website in January by a group calling itself 'Al Qaeda in Britain'.
The statement also demanded the withdrawal of British forces from Iraq and Afghanistan and the release of Muslim prisoners from Belmarsh high-security prison in London.
Terror plot: Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah at the Beijing Olympics
Postings to the site and others like it are regularly monitored by the security services over fears that they are used to radicalise and recruit young British Muslims.
However, police sources have stressed that there is no evidence that there was any active plot.
Anti-terrorist officers are still holding the three other suspects, aged 21, 22 and 23, who were arrested on August 14. They have also travelled to Scandinavia as part of their investigations.
The latest arrest was made when police forced their way into a rented flat above a butcher's shop in a mainly Muslim area of Blackburn at about 6.40am on Tuesday.
Ali had previously spoken to reporters about his links with the arrested brothers, who lived nearby.
'I have been in their house and we were friends, but we fell out because our views differed,' he said. 'I follow the Koran but their views were too extreme and we no longer speak.'
He added that as his fingerprints would be at the brothers' home, he would not be surprised if he too was arrested.
Yesterday, a friend, a 25-year-old businessman, said Ali was a regular worshipper at the local mosque and did not support extremist opinions. 'He did hang around with the two brothers but didn't share their views,' he said.
Detectives have until later this week to continue holding the first three suspects.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who is the local MP, is being kept informed about the investigation.
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