BY Ian Dunn | May 16 | 
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Terror suspects were not plotting to kill Pope
Six men arrested under terror laws during the Papal visit last year were not involved in any plot to kill Pope Benedict XVI (above), but police used their powers ‘lawfully and appropriately’, a review found today.
David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said: “There is no reason to believe, with the benefit of hindsight, that any of the arrested men was involved in a plot to kill the Pope, or indeed that any such plot existed.”
He added that the police used their powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 ‘lawfully and appropriately’.
The six men, who were all Muslims of North African origin, were released without charge after being arrested in London last September.
The Government’s terrorism watchdog launched the review last November to examine whether the police used their powers correctly when they arrested the men and whether there was any other way they could have dealt with the suspected threat.
Police searched eight homes in north and east London and two business premises in central London, including a street-cleaning depot, as part of the investigation.
Searches of the premises did not uncover any weapons or suspicious materials, Scotland Yard said.
Reports at the time suggested the men, aged 26, 27, 29, 36, 40 and 44, were all street cleaners and had been overheard making a joke in their canteen.
Five of the men were arrested at gunpoint as armed officers swooped on their base as they prepared to start their shift shortly before 6am on September 17. The last man was arrested at a home in north London shortly before 2pm that day.
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