Anti-terror detectives question 11 men over forgery plot

Eleven Algerian men were being questioned last night by anti-terrorist police in connection with the suspected support of al-Qa'ida activists.

Seven of the suspects were arrested under anti-terror laws in London where two businesses were later searched. Four men in Manchester were detained in early-morning raids.

The men were being questioned in connection with the manufacture of false documents and passports and other alleged terrorist support activity. Documents were taken from the properties, but no weapons, bomb-making equipment or poison were found.

The raids were the fifth large operation against terrorist suspects with alleged connections to North African and Algerian groups this year.

Six men, all in their thirties, were held in 6am raids in north, east and south-east London by officers from Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch.

A seventh man was later arrested in the capital, and two businesses in east and south-east London were raided and searched. All seven were taken to a police station in central London and remained in custody last night. They were being held under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of being involved in the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism", said Scotland Yard.

A man aged 32 was arrested in Manchester at 5.30am under the same Act and was being brought to London for questioning. Three men staying at the address in Manchester were also arrested but were not thought to have been the police's intended targets.