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One of the failed London bombers has been arrested during a dawn raid in Birmingham, police sources said today, in a major breakthrough for anti-terrorism officers who believe that the attackers could be preparing to strike again. Three other men were held in the early morning swoop, which was carried out by 50 officers from two police forces and started at 4.30am. Two addresses in the east of Birmingham were raided and a suspect package was found at one property. The device will be destroyed by bomb disposal experts in a controlled explosion this morning. One man, thought to be the bombing suspect, was shot with a Taser gun, but no firearms were discharged in what police are describing as a "very safe" operation. Police practice against suspected suicide bombers has come under intense scrutiny since the shooting by armed officers of an innocent Brazilian man on Friday in South London. West Midlands Police said that all four men had been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. One is a suspect in the failed bombings and has been taken to Paddington Green police station in Central London, the Metropolitan Police told Times Online today. It is not clear which one of the quartet has been arrested. Two of the four men, Muktar Said-Ibrahim, 27, who tried to bomb a London bus, and Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, the Warren Street attacker, have been named by police. A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "Officers executed a warrant obtained under the Terrorism Act 2000 at an address in Heybarnes Road, Hay Mills. "One man was arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. The man was Tasered during the operation. No firearms were discharged. He has been taken into custody to a Central London police station." The spokesman added: "A suspect package was found and, as a precautionary measure, evacuations have been undertaken in the vicinity and bomb disposal experts are in attendance." Shortly afterwards, a second search warrant was executed at an address in Bankdale Road, Washwood Heath. "Three men were arrested at this address under the Terrorism Act 2000," the spokesman went on. "They have been taken into custody in the West Midlands Police force area. Forensic examinations are being conducted at both addresses. These operations are in connection with the incidents in London on July 21." Speaking near the scene of the arrest in Heybarnes Road, Stuart Hyde, Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said that officers had used a stun gun to ensure a safe arrest. Mr Hyde, who estimated that at least 50 people were involved in both raids, continued: "It was the most appropriate weapon in the circumstances. "The officers used a Taser and were able to effect a very safe arrest." Police at Heybarnes Road erected an extended cordon around the maisonette. A police spokesman said: “Following advice from the Army, we have now extended the cordon and evacuated about 100 houses.” In a separate operation two men were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act at Grantham railway station in Lincolnshire as they travelled from Newcastle to Kings Cross. The arrests were made after information was given by two off-duty Metropolitan Police officers who were travelling on the same GNER train. They will be questioned at a Lincolnshire police station this morning. The fugitive bombers who bungled their attacks on London’s transport system last week returned to their secret cache of explosives to rearm themselves for another assault, Scotland Yard believes. Immediately after the bombings up to three of the men who tried to blow up three Tube trains and a bus were seen by a neighbour at the ninth-floor flat in New Southgate, North London, that they were using as a bomb factory. Witnesses claim that some of the suspects made a second trip the next day to the flat where police yesterday found chemicals and bombmaking materials. The men who lived at the flat, Ibrahim and Omar, were described by a neighbour who met them as looking "startled and dishevelled". They fled shortly before police established last Friday that the flat had been used as a base. It emerged last night that Ibrahim was granted a British passport despite a criminal record for violence. It also emerged that his parents identified him to police after CCTV pictures of him were released. He was jailed by Luton Crown Court for five years when he was 17 for being part of a gang that carried out a series of muggings at knifepoint at Hertfordshire railway stations. One former friend said that he turned to radical Islam while in prison. He qualified for early release in 1998 and is then alleged to have met Richard Reid, the jailed "shoe bomber", at two London mosques. Reid, who was also a petty criminal, tried to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic in 2001. Immigration officials disclosed that Ibrahim and Omar came to Britain as child refugees. Omar came from Somalia as a 10-year-old in 1992. Ibrahim arrived with his parents in the same year from Eritrea, aged 14. Barely ten months ago, he swore allegiance to the Crown when he became a British citizen. Police are investigating how he was granted citizenship with a criminal record. A key condition for naturalisation is that applicants should be "of good character". Officers also want to know if he applied for citizenship in order to obtain a British passort. Passport checks have been reimposed for everyone leaving the country in an attempt to prevent the four suspects from fleeing abroad. Controls were imposed after the first wave of bombings on July 7 and were back in place only four days after being lifted. As Britain’s biggest manhunt went into its sixth day, detectives confirmed to The Times that they are convinced that a fifth bomber is on the loose. He is believed to have discarded his bomb in a park near Wormwood Scrubs prison. Scientists say that it contained the same type of explosives as those used in the botched attacks. Detectives found "a substantial amount" of explosives in the towerblock at Curtis House, in bins and in a lock-up garage on the estate. So much explosive has been discovered at different sites since the original July 7 attacks that killed 52 people, that police cannot be sure how much the cell possesses. Armed police seized a car used by one of the bombers, which was found abandoned a few miles from the council flat that Ibrahim and Omar shared.Streets near the North Circular Road in East Finchley were sealed off as bomb disposal teams searched the white Volkswagen Golf. Police told how Ibrahim was identified by his own parents. His family spoke of their shock at discovering their son’s involvement in terrorism and condemned his actions. "We are a peaceful family, having lived in this country since 1990," a family statement said. Police are still checking identifications of the other two men who took part in the attacks. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that senior officers had come close to allowing officers to fire on terrorist suspects seven times since the July 7 bombings. They had been asked to assess the risk of a terrorist 250 times in the past 20 days. Doctors in London have been asked by police to alert them if they are consulted by any "young men of Asian appearance" with back injuries. | 
