Glasgow Muslims Held By Police For Days For Possession Of Talcum Powder!!!
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_...name_page.html
CAGED FOR POSSESSION OF TALCUM POWDER
6 May 2007
Shopkeepers reveal how they were dragged out at their flat in handcuffs, stripped and locked up for days by cops looking for al-Qaeda bombers.
THREE Scots Muslims accused of running a bomb factory and being members of al-Qaeda claim a suspicious substance they were linked to was talcum powder.
Brothers Irfan and Naim Nasim and their cousin Asid Ashraf were arrested and held for three days after white powder was found in a flat above the offices of MP Mohammed Sarwar and then MSP Gordon Jackson last weekend.
Officers acting on a tip-off took the men to Govan Police Station in Glasgow and told them to strip so their clothes could be taken for tests.
They were left in their boxer shorts, had their mobiles taken off them and were given a blanket each before being put in separate cells in a specialist anti-terror holding unit.
The three shopkeepers claim they were insulted by police, called "f***ing a***holes" and quizzed at least 10 times by Special Branch officers. During interviews they were repeatedly accused of making bombs and being members of al-Qaeda.
They were among six people - including a 15-year-old boy - arrested in last weekend's anti-terror raid on the flat in Paisley Road West.
Families were evacuated from the building and a newsagent shop owned by the Nasim family was closed down as police and bomb experts swept the area.
Police later said the powder was "non-threatening".
The three men say it was just talc left by Polish workers, the flat's former tenants.
Irfan, 26, a married father-of-two, said they were cleaning the property when police swooped.
It is one of five flats in the block owned by the Nasim family.
Irfan said: "The treatment we received was disgraceful.
"We were arrested by six cops and handcuffed on Friday. We were not released until Monday at 9pm.
"They said, 'you are terrorists, you are with al-Qaeda, you were making bombs'.
"There is no one more westernised than me. I was born and educated in Glasgow and have never been to Pakistan.
"I prefer Spain for my holidays, I drink and I don't go to the mosque.
"Do I sound like a Muslim fanatic who supports terrorism?
"We all have Scottish nicknames. I am called Tony, Naim is called Jamie and Asid is called Sid.
"I only knew the full extent of was happening when we were given the Sunday Mail in our cells."
Naim, 23, added: "When we were taken to the charge bar they said we were being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and told a suspicious substance had been found in the house.
"They would interview us for 30 minutes at a time and ask the same questions over and over.
"They seem to think we were making bombs in the flat. We still haven't had our mobiles back."
Asid, 27, is demanding an apology from the police.
He added: "I am the only one of the three of us who goes to the mosque and has been to Pakistan.
"We have been picked on because we are Muslim. I don't know where the police got their information but they could not have been more wrong."
The boys' father and Asid's uncle Abdul Nasim, 53, said: "I own five houses in the building where they say the bomb-making was going on.
"Do they really think I would try to blow up my own properties?
"I hate terrorism and cry when people are killed. I came here from Pakistan more than 40 years ago and this is my home.
"The police now see Muslims and automatically think terrorist."
The three arrested men work in the family newsagents in Paisley Road West and maintain the flats.
Their solicitor, human rights lawyer Dilip Deb, said: "This has been a botch-up job by the police.
"There was insufficient intelligence to warrant an operation of this scale.
"To suggest my clients are terrorists is laughable and I will be demanding a full apology.
"We also want compensation for Mr Nasim whose shop had to close all day Saturday losing thousands of pounds worth of business."
Police released the 15-year-old on Sunday but the five others including Irfan, Naim and Asid were taken to Glasgow Sheriff Court last Monday.
They were charged with obstructing police and freed on bail.
Strathclyde Police said: "Inquiries are ongoing and further charges may follow. Any complaint will be fully investigated."
Comment:
You can be as moderate and integrated as you want but end of the day will the non-Muslims believe you? They might think you deep undercover. The poem below talks about the issue of moderate Muslims