Terrorism Act arrests at Staffordshire Hospital, UK

Four men have been arrested at a hospital in Staffordhire, UK, under the terrorism act. Details are pretty scetchy at the moment.

Four men have been arrested at a Staffordshire hospital under the Terrorism Act.
Staffordshire Police arrested the men after a police unit which included firearms officers was called to the Stafford District General Hospital.

The four are being held at a police station in the county.

A fifth man who was being treated at the hospital was transferred to another hospital for specialist treatment, police said.

news.bbc.co.uk...

I am making assumptions here, but it would seem that the men were there either all recieving treatment for something, or at least one was. He has been transferred to an unnamed specialist Hospital for treatment.

What was this guy up too to need such treatment and get arrested under the Terrorism Act? Chemical/Biological weapons? Who knows!

[edit on 30/3/06 by stumason]

housemade bomb gone wrong ?
Scary to know their working so close to home. A chem bomb could go off at anytime, anywhere.

Latest from the BBC:

A Staffordshire Police spokeswoman said the men were arrested "under the Terrorism Act 2000 as a result of information received".

She added: "They were arrested by officers from the force's incident management unit which included some specialist firearms officers.

"The men are now in custody at police stations in Staffordshire."

Two sections of the hospital car park are still being cordoned off with police tape, with two police cars parked nearby.

BBC

My goodness, I live about 3 miles from the Hospital. hehe I will try and find what the locals are saying about this. The local newspaper (Newsletter) must be kicking itself that they publish on a Thursday, nice meaty story compared to the scraps it gets.

Right now im thinking 2 possible reasons for these arrests:

1) The Queen is visiting Stafford Tomorrow (Friday 31st) , so security has obviously been ramped up considerably, these arrests could be due to that.

2) Recently there have been gangs stealing expensive Medical equipment from hospitals to sell on black market.

The Terrorism laws have been used in a number of arrests, not just for terrorists.

Just a little update, Police have searched 4 houses, taken some things for analysis but have publicly said nothing Terrorist related.

The guy is 'very ill', the Hospital has said they are conducting specialist tests but do not know so far, what is up with him.

On local news they spoke to the wife of one of the 4 men that had been arrested, she told them her husband came to the hospital with a friend who had fallen ill. She didnt want to be interviewed.

I dont know whether the Police are keeping things unknown due to the Queen's visit tomorrow, and that there is something more sinister to this incident. Or that they are just being cautious and thorough with their investigation.

This morning I was kindof laughing at the talk of chemical bombs and what have you, I was more annoyed at 4 civilians being arrested under the Terrorist Act and the Police saying they were not suspected of any terrorist activites; but with such a lack of clarity that has been maintained throughout the day, I guess its making me think we're not being told something.

However, if there was something more to this then surely the Queen's visit would be cancelled. See im still unsure, lol Local news will be all over this though so will be interesting to see what happens.

*wraps self in tin-foil*

The Guardian report contains a police source mentioning that the patient appears to have a viral illness.

The patient, aged 28, remains "very ill" after being moved to a specialist unit in another hospital for tests. Police sources said he appeared to have a viral illness, but no obvious injuries.

www.guardian.co.uk...




zero lift

[edit on 31-3-2006 by zero lift]

[edit on 31-3-2006 by zero lift]