Extra time for police to question five terror suspects

Police who arrested five men over alleged terror offences have been granted extra time to question the suspects.

West Midlands Police said magistrates have given them an extension, meaning detectives can hold the five until September 8 without charge.

Chief Superintendent Sue Southern, from West Midlands Police, said: "The further warrant of detention allows us to detain the men for another seven days and continue with our investigation."

A police cordon was put up in Birmingham city centre for several hours on Friday August 26, as army bomb disposal units were called in as a precaution.

Three of the men were arrested in the city and held on suspicion of commissioning, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism, West Midlands Police said.

Two, aged 18 and 24, were detained by counter-terrorism detectives at their homes while another man, 28, was arrested in a different area of Birmingham. Another two men, aged 32 and 37, were held in Stoke-on-Trent.

The force said that after one of the arrests, an army bomb disposal team was called to the Lee Bank area of Birmingham as a precaution.