Olympics: London cops on high alert

Scotland Yard on Thursday arrested six people in an early morning swoop in parts of London that included the area where the Olympics start later this month. A series of raids are being carried out in west, east and north London as security forces arrested the six people as part of a planned intelligence-led operation that conducted over the past few weeks. The police said that the operation was not linked to the forthcoming Olympic Games.They also clarified that an incident on a bus near Birmingham this morning was not related to terrorism. The current threat level in Britain is classed as Substantial, which means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility;The five levels of threat are: Critical - an attack is expected imminently; Severe - an attack is highly likely; Substantial - an attack is a strong possibility; Moderate - an attack is possible but not likely; and Low- an attack is unlikely;The six arrested five men and one woman were all arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000, and have been taken to a south east London police station where they remain in custody.Meanwhile, Britain's terrorism powers watchdog has warned the police that they must have "reasonable suspicion" before making arrests in the run-up to the Olympics. David Anderson, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said he would be "watching like a hawk" to ensure terrorism arrests were not arbitrary and powers were not abused.>Anderson told the muslim News, "We have a lot of people in intelligence agencies manning their desks, having their leave cancelled and no doubt there will be a temptation for people to use that time as the Olympics become closer, to arrest people. There is a possibility that people will get worried and they will resort to power of arrest".ll;">He added, "What I want to make very clear to them is that it not something they are entitled to do unless they have a reasonable suspicion. "I am watching like a hawk and, so far, in my experience, that tendency has not yet materialised". There are apprehensions in sections of Britain's Muslim community that they may be targeted unfairly by counter- terrorism officials during the Olympics.<