Was Dewsbury EDL demo a terrorism target?

Seven men were arrested during a terrorism investigation which was sparked when police impounded a car on the same day as the English Defence League’s gathering in Dewsbury.

One of the men, a 43-year-old from Huddersfield Road, Ravensthorpe, was released without charge, but six others from the West Midlands have now appeared in court on terrorism charges.

The investigation began after police stopped a car on the M1 motorway near Sheffield on Saturday June 30, the same day that the English Defence League held a national demonstration outside Dewsbury Town Hall.

The car was impounded when officers suspected it had no insurance, but they later found guns, knives, machetes and a home-made explosive device.

Three men were arrested last Tuesday, July 3, with three more arrested the following day.

Police then swooped on a house in Huddersfield Road where the 43-year-old was arrested last Thursday.

Officers were given a week to either charge him, release him or apply for a warrant to allow them to detain him for longer, but he was released without charge on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, that day, Jewel Uddin, 26; Omar Mohammed Khan, 27, and Mohammed Hasseen, 23, all from Sparkhill, Birmingham, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court accused of preparing for an act or acts of terrorism with the intention of committing such acts.

The same charges were put to three other men from Birmingham – Mohammed Saud, 22; Zohaib Ahmed, 22, and Anzal Hussain, 24 – when they appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

All six were remanded in custody until a hearing at London’s Old Bailey on July 31.