Their arrest made more news stories than their release, but all the men detained in a security operation intended to thwart what the Prime Minister said was “a very big terrorist plot” were released without charge last night.

The men, Pakistani citizens who were in Britain on student visas, were handed by police into the custody of immigration authorities and now face deportation on national security grounds. Aged between 22 and 38, they had been detained for 13 to 14 out of a possible 28 days but were released because there was no evidence connecting them to terrorist activity.

Mohammed Ayub, a lawyer for three of the men, called for an independent inquiry into Operation Pathway and said their deportation orders would be challenged. “Our clients have no criminal history, they were here lawfully on student visas and all were pursuing their studies and working part-time,” he said. “They are neither extremists nor terrorists. Their arrest and detention has been a serious breach of their human rights.” Lord Carlile, the government’s terror watchdog, said on 23 April that he would carry out a review into the raids.

The investigation into alleged al-Qaeda activity in the North West involved 14 properties in Manchester, Liverpool and Clitheroe, Lancashire, being searched by specialist teams. The arrests were brought forward by 12 hours after Bob Quick, Scotland Yard’s head of counter-terrorism, accidentally disclosed details of the raids to Downing Street photographers while on his way to brief Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

Some of the suspects were allegedly under surveillance while photographing and filming at Manchester shopping centres and a nightclub. It was hoped that the arrests and searches would produce evidence of bomb-making activity or components. A block of flats in Liverpool was evacuated but no explosive material was found. Attention later turned to the forensic examination of the suspects’ computers, but sources say that nothing has been found which can incriminate the men.

The nine men have the right to contest deportation through the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. It can overturn decisions by the Home Secretary to deport people on national security grounds.

Responding to criticism of the police operation, Gordon Brown’s spokesman said: “Both the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister believe they are doing an excellent job in continuing to protect the public from terrorist threats: “The Government’s highest priority is to protect public safety. Where a foreign national poses a threat to the country, we will seek to exclude or deport them where appropriate.”

The Guardian has published the following letters on the subject:

After days of slurs and speculation and a fair number of government media interviews, no charges have been brought against any of the men arrested in Liverpool and Manchester on suspicion of ... well, who knows quite what? Being seen in or near shopping centres and nightclubs while Pakistani? We have been told that international student visas have been subject to abuse, that universities need to do more and that the whole system needs to be tightened up. Now the arrested men are facing deportation on the grounds of “national security” (Lord Carlile calls inquiry into terror bomb plot raids, 23 April). I take it this means their immigration status has been in order.
This year the government has tried to force colleges and universities to become another arm of immigration control. We are being asked to snoop on students or lose our ability to recruit internationally because the Home Office will take away our “licence”. They should stop worrying. When the rest of the world realises how dangerous Britain has become for its young people, they won’t want to come here to study any more anyway. So much for our place in the knowledge economy.
Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya
Birmingham

Once again the lynch mob is out. Trial by media, not only of the 10 hapless Pakistani students but the Pakistani nation, maligned again. From the prime minister, the home secretary and every politician and his dog, the cries of TERRORIST resound in the corridors of Whitehall. Not only did Gordon Brown join in pronouncing the guilty verdict hours after the arrests, the Pakistan ambassador called for more to be done to keep such people out! New laws have already been drafted to ensure that the Pakistani student, starved of quality education at home, is kept at bay, possibly reflecting on other outlets for his intellect.
This kind of trigger-happy reaction from the security forces and wailing of politicians is fodder for the real terrorists. And the Pakistani community, once the workhorse of British industry, a peace-loving, timid people, now cowering in corners, castigated by the media and even the friendly neighbour who no longer hangs over the fence to talk about a curry. Where do they go to seek refuge? What are the risks such policies can instigate? Some food for thought for the home secretary and the prime minister.
Arshad Chaudhry
Chairman, Pakistan Forward

Why do the media refer to Lord Carlile as the “independent reviewer of terrorism legislation”? Carlile, a QC, parliamentarian and former MP, is the government-appointed reviewer of such law. So why not refer to him in those terms?
John Elder
Devauden, Monmouthshire