LONDON — Police, on high alert for a possible attack on Britain's airports, said Friday that most of those arrested in a major security operation were no longer terrorism suspects.
Police have arrested nine men under the country's anti-terrorism legislation in the last few days, as security forces take no risks with anyone seen acting suspiciously near airports. But as of Friday, six had been released, police said.
The arrests came as Britain, like the United States, is on heightened alert because of intelligence agency fears that some kind of terrorist attack might be imminent.
Britain's busiest airport, London's Heathrow, has been ringed by police and troops for the last four days amid intelligence-led fears that Al Qaeda militants might target the capital. Britain has been President Bush's closest ally in his war on terrorism.
