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Men held in anti-terror probe
12/ 5/2008
A MUSLIM author who admits being a former al-Qaida recruiter was still being questioned by anti-terror police two days after his arrest at Manchester Airport.
Hassan Butt, who penned a book on his terrorist past - was detained at Manchester Airport on Friday afternoon.
Mr Butt, 31, pictured, is understood to have arrived at Terminal 2 and bought a ticket to Lahore, Pakistan, 45 minutes before the Pakistan International Airlines flight was due to leave.
He is being questioned by Greater Manchester's regional counter terrorism unit. Since his arrest, police have searched his home in north Manchester and two other properties nearby.
Two cars were last night taken away for forensic examination.
A police spokesman said: "A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorist activity and officers were involved in searching three addresses."
Mr Butt has renounced a past in which he admitted raising tens of thousands of pounds for terror networks. He has also spoken of his determination to work against extremism.
During an interview with BBC's Newsnight last month, he described helping hundreds of British recruits receive weapons training in Pakistan and Afghanistan in autumn 2001.
He also told that his network helped more than 600 young British Muslims go out to fight with the Taliban against American and British forces.
Mr Butt, who has previously been arrested twice under the Terrorism Act, told a local newspaper (Manchester Evening News) in 2004 of wanting to become a martyr before he reached 40.
But the high-profile author says he completely changed his mind about terrorism following the 7/7 attacks in London.
He told Newsnight in April: "I realised that the Jihadi network was not killing for the sake of Islam, it was killing for the sake of causing terror and causing havoc." Since then he says he has been working with some of his original recruits to try to turn them away from terror.
Last July Mr Butt was invited by the Home Office to discuss his ideas on how to prevent young people from becoming radicalised. He told minister Tony McNulty his plans for `deradicalising' extremists. He is reported to have said that he understood the terrorist mindset `perfectly.'
Mr Butt is said to have told the minister that he had made `this problem' himself and would deal with it himself - but asked for the authorities to support him in his work.
He has claimed Greater Manchester police are harassing him over suspicions that he is secretly still a Jihadist.
He is reported to have said last month that he was prepared to confess his past life and even go to prison for what he did to prove the sincerity of his change of heart.
He is reported to have said: "I'm not in denial about anything. I'm not asking for immunity or favours. I just want to be able to get on with my life and undo the work that I did."
Most recent 2 of 2 user comments
12/05/2008 at 11:11
Got an opinion you want to share?Do you think racism is more rife in modern day Britain?
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