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Police have used anti-terrorism powers to stop and search almost 180,000 suspects, it emerged yesterday. Yet only 255 of the individuals they targeted were subsequently detained for terrorist- related offences. The figures suggest that police may be misusing powers granted to them under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 supposedly for use only in extreme circumstances The Home Office statistics, which were released to the Daily Mail under Freedom of Information laws, show a ten-fold use in the power since its introduction. In 2000-01, just 3,583 people were stopped under Section 44. Of these, only one was arrested for...

Download this handy card, warning police officers that if a stop and search is intrusive, unlawful or malicious, you will take action The debate about the use of stop and search – be it protesters or young black and Asian men, be it in the case of stopping knife crime or deterring terrorism – is one that has (understandably, perhaps) been fixed on the police results rather than the times they get it wrong.But it is in the cases where they get it wrong that attitudes towards police are sharpened and the rights we feel we have as citizens practically...

AP ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's leaders know what's at stake after the terror attack in Mumbai and have acknowledged their duty to evict terrorists and prevent future attacks, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday. "I found a Pakistani government that is focused on the threat and that understands its responsibilities to respond to terrorism and extremism wherever it is found," Rice said following sessions with the country's powerful army chief and civilian leaders.

WASHINGTON — A growing al Qaida -backed insurgency, combined with the Pakistani army's reluctance to launch an all-out crackdown, political infighting and energy and food shortages are plunging America's key ally in the war on terror deeper into turmoil and violence, says a soon-to-be completed U.S. intelligence assessment. A U.S. official who participated in drafting the top secret National Intelligence Estimate said it portrays the situation in Pakistan as "very bad." Another official called the draft "very bleak," and said it describes Pakistan as being "on the edge."

Japan Prime Minister Abe Threatens Resignation If Anti-Terror Refueling Extension Fails (RTTNews) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is staking his political future on Japan's refueling mission for U.S. antiterrorism operations in and around Afghanistan. Speaking in Sydney on Sunday, Abe said he stands ready to resign if he fails to get Parliament to extend Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. Abe stressed the extension has become an international commitment he needs to fulfill by all possible means.Abe told reporters "I have no intention of clinging to my duties" as prime minister if the mission is not extended beyond...

Plane spotters recruited for anti-terror work By Paul Stokes Last Updated: 9:09am BST 18/07/2007 Plane spotters are being recruited as police look-outs in the fight against terror attacks on Britain’s airports. 'Anoraks' can be eyes and ears for police Detectives have called a meeting with the aircraft enthusiasts to discuss plans for their help in surveillance at Durham Tees Valley Airport. The “anoraks” often occupy vantage points around the terminal building and are being considered as “extra eyes and ears” for security purposes. Det Supt Neil Malkin, of Durham Police, said: “We have thought for some time the plane spotters...

Anti-terror chief asks Muslims to help more By John Steele, Crime Correspondent Last Updated: 4:30am BST 25/04/2007 Few anti-terrorist operations are sparked by intelligence from Britain's Muslim communities and the flow of information to police and MI5 has to be increased, the UK's most senior counter-terrorist officer said last night. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, warned there was also a dangerous distrust of the intelligence on which police worked. This was typified by the controversy over the abortive "chemical bomb" raid on a house in east London last summer. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke...

Soldiers of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force (JGSDF) stand in line for review at a ceremony to mark the launch of the Central Readiness Force at the JGSDF's Asaka Base, in Tokyo's Nerima Ward on March 31, 2007. (Xinhua Photo) Japan's Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the launch of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force's (JGSDF) Central Readiness Force at JGSDF's Asaka Base in Asaka, north of Tokyo March 31, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) A soldier of Japan's Ground Self Defence Force (JGSDF) walks past rows of guns before a ceremony to mark the...

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 — despite no evidence linking them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit found Tuesday. Overall, nearly all of the terrorism-related statistics on investigations, referrals and cases examined by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine were either diminished or inflated. Only two of 26 sets of department data reported between 2001 and 2005 were accurate, the audit found. Responding, a Justice spokesman pointed to figures showing that prosecutors in the department's headquarters for the most part either accurately...

Dion's politics shift with wind By EZRA LEVANT Calgary Sun Monday, February 19, 2007 Stephane Dion, the new Liberal leader, says he's against renewing the provisions of Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act. Because the Conservatives don't have a majority, and the Bloc and NDP are notoriously soft on the war on terror, Dion holds the balance. And he's voting not to renew our security laws. He's pretending it's still Sept. 10. This is the same Stephane Dion, of course, who was part of the Liberal cabinet that brought in the Anti-Terrorism Act, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. There has...

Police arrest five in anti-terror raids Tuesday January 23, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK) A police officer photographs a car outside a Halifax address after anti-terror raids in the area. Photograph: Paul Barker/AFP/Getty Images Five people were arrested in separate anti-terrorism operations this morning, two in West Yorkshire and three around Manchester, police have said. Two men, aged 25 and 29, were held in Halifax at 6am "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan police said. The London force's anti-terrorism officers carried out the raid in conjunction with West Yorkshire police,...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2006 -- American and Iraqi forces killed scores of insurgents and found numerous enemy weapons caches during anti-terrorist operations conducted across Iraq in recent days, according to Multinational Corps Iraq news releases. In one such operation conducted in the Tikrit area, U.S. soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, and soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army, teamed up to kill nearly 50 insurgents while capturing 20. A large enemy weapons cache complex containing six caches was also uncovered during the sweep. Many of the seized...

OTTAWA — The director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service says advances in wireless and Internet technology are making it harder and harder to intercept terrorist communications. Jim Judd told a conference Friday that the fast pace of technological change is harming the ability of national security agents and police to conduct court-approved electronic eavesdropping on suspected terrorists, “We increasingly risk going deaf and blind in an environment where telecommunication providers regularly change their systems in the interests of improving service but in the process can literally leave us out of the loop on intercepts,” he told a Canadian Association...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 30, 2006 – The United States is fighting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq to keep its pledge to the people there and to prevent future attacks on America, Vice President Richard B. Cheney said at a troop rally at an Air Force base yesterday. “We maintain forces in those countries because we’re a nation that keeps its word and because we understand what is at stake in that part of the world,” Cheney told servicemembers gathered at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, American and allied military forces displaced...

Anti-terror laws alienate Muslims, says top policeman · Call for judicial review into causes of extremism· Ghaffur says racism has curtailed his own career Riazat Butt and Vikram Dodd Monday August 7, 2006 The Guardian (UK) A Muslim man looks out at the police cordon following an evacuation in the Beeston area of Leeds after last year’s terrorist attack in London. Photograph: Dan Chung/Guardian One of Britain's top police officers will today warn that anti-terrorism laws are discriminating against Muslims and law enforcement agencies are running a "real risk" of criminalising ethnic minorities. Tarique Ghaffur, assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan...

Unit Alpha of the National Security Service ran a special operation in Jalalabad, a city in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan. Five armed extremists were killed in the operation. Interim reports indicate that some of them were ringleaders of extremist organizations secret services of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan had been after for years. .......... "Today, we destroyed the group whose members practically ran the network of terrorist organizations in the country," Tabaldiyev said. "These people maintained contacts with Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran and received finances, weapons, and trained gunmen from there. We've decapitated the terrorist network in the southern part of...

Putin seeks to start anti-terror offensive Published July 5, 2006 MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin asked parliament yesterday for the right to send soldiers and special forces anywhere in the world to fight terrorists, acting just days after having pledged to "destroy" the terrorists who killed five Russian diplomats in Iraq. Moscow confirmed early last week that terrorists had killed four abducted diplomats, beheading two of them in an Internet video, after Russia refused their demand to leave the breakaway republic of Chechnya. A fifth diplomat was killed during the abduction June 3. Russian security services last week offered...

by Mark Finkelstein June 29, 2006 As fellow NewsBuster Mithridate Ombud noted today, a San Francisco Chronicle columnist has flatly accused the Bush administration of anti-Semitism in its criticism of The New York Times for its latest leak of an anti-terror program. That this might be an emerging MSM theme is evidenced by a similar suggestion coming from Chris Matthews on this evening's Hardball. The Times rose to prominence under the ownership of, Arthur Ochs, a Jew. His descendants, notably including the Times' current publisher, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, continue to play a dominant role in the Times' affairs. So when...

Anti-terror raids could spark riots, says police chief By Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent (Filed: 25/06/2006) Anti-terror raids could spark rioting unless police maintain a strong relationship with the Muslim community, according to a senior officer. James Hart, who retired on Friday as Commissioner for the City of London Police, compared today's situation with the tensions that led to the Brixton and Broadwater Farm riots in the 1980s - both sparked by bungled police operations. James Hart: 'We have seen all this before' This month's botched terror raid in Forest Gate, east London, in which a suspect was shot and...

Anti-terrorist police found £30,000 in a suitcase during raid By John Steele, Crime Correspondent (Filed: 16/06/2006) Police are investigating a large sum of cash - understood to be at least £30,000 - that was discovered in the house raided by anti-terrorist officers in east London two weeks ago. The family of the two brothers caught up in the raid said last night that the money was mostly rent income kept in a suitcase because of Islamic objections to banks. Abul Kahar and Abul Koyair, who were arrested in the raid, were released without charge last week and have not faced...