 A property in Belchers Lane, Bordesley Green, was searched |
Police have searched two properties in Birmingham following the disrupted plot to bomb UK planes travelling to the US. West Midlands Police have arrested two people under the Terrorism Act as part of the national police operation.
A property in Belchers Lane, Bordesley Green, and a house in Margarets Road, Ward End, were searched during the operation. The two men are in custody.
Local residents in both areas said they were shocked by developments, with some criticising the police.
The two-storey shuttered building on Belchers Lane is thought to include a business on the ground floor and a residential flat on the first floor.
'Really shocked'
It was cordoned off and guarded by uniformed officers.
Neighbours reported seeing a small police van arrive at the building at 0330 BST on Thursday, with two larger police vans pulling up at about 0700 BST.
Local residents said the business had changed hands several times over recent years, going from an industrial cleaning firm to an insurance company and now its current occupiers.
Local councillor Ansar Ali Khan said: "I was really shocked at this news.
"This ward is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic area and people live in peace and harmony. It is a diverse ward and we have never had a problem."
Dr Mohammad Naseem, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, said: "With the track record of the police, one doesn't have much faith in the basis on which people are detained.
"It poses the question whether the arrests are part of a political objective, by using Muslims as a target, using the perception of terrorism to usurp all our civil liberties and get more control while moving towards a totalitarian state."
The front door of the terraced house in St Margaret's Road had been damaged by the police operation and forensic officers were at the property.
Ikram Ulhaq, whose daughter had religious lessons at the house, said: "I don't know what happened there, all I know is they are peaceful, religious people.
"They were teaching Koran and all that to the young kids, how they read the Koran, how they pray five times a day.
"I'm shocked, I'm definitely sure they've got the wrong people."
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