British police got more time to question nine men arrested in anti-terror raids earlier this week after a court granted a custody extension on Sunday, a police spokeswoman said. The men, aged between 19 and 32, were being held at a central London police station following their dramatic arrests in coordinated daylight raids across the country on Tuesday. "The extension is until Tuesday for all nine suspects," the spokeswoman said. A previous extension, granted on Thursday, had expired. Police said they were no longer questioning two of the suspects seized Tuesday over terror-related activities but were still holding them on suspicion of possessing forged identity papers. Two other men detained in the raids were released without charge earlier in the week. At the time of the arrests, the police would only say the men were suspected of "being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism". Britain has arrested more than 600 people under terrorism laws since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. But fewer than 100 have been charged and only 15 convicted. Information from an al Qaeda operative detained in Pakistan led to the arrests in Britain.
