UK police find explosives in home
From CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance and Producer Eden Pontz
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Security is high after the UK's top policeman warned of possible terror attacks.
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GLOUCESTER, England (CNN) -- British police have found explosive material in the home of a man earlier arrested for suspected ties to international terrorism, a Gloucester police spokesman said.
The material was safely removed, police said, and neighborhood residents who were earlier evacuated were allowed to return home.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said residents were asked to go to a community center because authorities suspected there may have been explosives stored inside the home.
British Home Secretary David Blunkett said it is believed the 24-year-old man -- identified only as being a British citizen of Asian origin -- is connected to al Qaeda.
The man was arrested under Section 41 of Britain's Terrorist Act on "suspicion of involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," according to Gloucestershire Deputy Chief Constable Martin Baker.
"It is the belief of the security and (police) Special Branch services that this man has connections with the network of al Qaeda groups," Blunkett said in a BBC interview.
"We would not have taken these steps if we did not believe that this individual posed a very real threat to the life and liberty of our country."
While the suspect was being held Thursday in a police station in Wiltshire, the area surrounding his Gloucester home was evacuated "as a precaution," Baker said.
Officials did not give details on the explosive material that was found in the residence.
Four streets surrounding the home were closed and a shelter was opened nearby for displaced residents, Baker said.
The lead agency in the search and investigation is the Metropolitan Police Anti-terrorist Branch, Baker said.
Anti-terrorist Branch officers were also working with Lancashire police in a search of two additional addresses in Blackburn, Lancashire. These additional searches were being carried out in connection with the arrest of the 24-year-old.
As a precaution, one of the addresses in Blackburn was evacuated.
In another case police said was not connected to the Gloucester arrest, British anti-terror police arrested a 39-year-old man in the northern city of Manchester Thursday, the Scotland Yard spokesman said.
Britain's top police officer Sir John Stevens has said that London will be on high terror alert for the foreseeable future. Police had previously warned that an attack in Britain was almost inevitable.
Security services were put on a heightened state of alert after they received warnings of a possible al Qaeda attack.
On Wednesday, Britain laid down plans to hand police emergency powers to combat terror attacks, days after devastating bombs against British targets in Turkey.
Britain, which fought alongside the United States in Iraq, set aside £330 million ($562 million) in this year's budget to counter the threat of attack.
