LONDON: Five Arabs have been detained here under the prevention of terrorism act apparently for their alleged involvement in a plot to kill the Indian born British author Salman Rushdie.

In dawn raids at several places in London and Scarborough about 30 plain clothes officers, some armed detained a number of people with Middle East connections under the prevention of terrorism act, Scotland Yard confirmed Wednesday. They are being questioned in a London police station.

Rushdie has been in hiding under police protection since Iran’s late Ayatollah Khomeini passed a death sentence against him for alleged blasphemy against Islam in his controversial novel, “The Satanic Verses.”

Article extracted from this publication >> June 1, 1990