Residents’ shock at plot claim

Parts of Birmingham were at the centre of a world incident. Mark Andrews watched events unfold.

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As people went about their daily business in Sparkhill’s Stratford Road, yesterday morning’s events were the subject on everybody’s lips.

But although most of them had a vague idea about the nature of the arrests, few, if any, had any idea of the true horror.

People milling about on the pleasant sunny day in this close-knit community mostly knew nothing other than what they had heard on the news.

Shopkeeper Imran Haq froze in disbelief as he heard the full nature of the allegations surrounding the suspected terror plot.

“I can’t believe that,” he said. “It’s a total shock. It just shows nobody knows anything anymore. People don’t know who their next door neighbours are.”

Mr Haq, who along with his family has been running the Mighty Q discount store for 15 years, said he had done business with one of the men at the shop before and would never have believed he could be involved in anything like this.

“I would have had no idea,” he said.

Mr Haq said that because he was so well-known in the area, he would normally be the first to hear anything. “It’s a bit of a local information centre here,” he said. “We get so many people coming in.”

Across the road from the Blade Communication Centre at another internet cafe, people were reluctant to talk.

One burly man came over and said “You have no right to snoop” before revealing that he knew the man well. “It’s all total bull; he’s a good man. There’s no way he would be involved in anything like that. It’s all rubbish. There’s too much of it going on now. They go after anyone,” he added.

Another man, who asked not to be named, had no idea about why Sparkhill had been thrust into the national news bulletins. He said: “I have lived here since 1959 and have never once looked up to see what was in that building. It’s of no interest to me. It is something I can do without; I’ve got a family an children, and I don’t want the aggro.”

Despite all the talk of a terror plot and media attention, people in the community were continuing to go about their business unfazed.

Mohammed Ashfaq said: “I have heard nothing but what was on the radio, that people had been arrested in Sparkhill and Alum Rock. It’s been a quiet morning, and I’ve just been getting on with sorting out my own problems.

“It’s a close-knit community, and people do talk, but I have heard nothing.”

Indeed, most people around Sparkhill’s narrow streets of mainly Victorian red-brick houses seemed very reluctant to talk at all.

A woman who works in a nearby chemists said people had been in asking questions but she knew nothing about what happened.

Most people’s reaction in Sparkhill will be just like that of Imran Haq when he heard the nature of the allegations. Looking totally stunned that he had been doing business with someone linked to the most heinous of alleged crimes, he froze and said: “Why do people do this? What do they get out of it?”

Waheed Malik, who has run a textile shop Midland Textiles on the Stratford Road for 20 years said it was not the first time Blade Communications had been raided.

He said he was not particularly shocked about the arrests, although he was very surprised by the rumours circulating about the nature of the alleged offences.

“I knew the chaps at the shop. They just seemed like normal traders. They come in the morning and open up just like all of us,” he said.

“I think we bought some phones from them as well. I won’t say I’m shocked, because if they are going to find something, it will be in an Asian area. I think the police have to be very careful if they hear any rumours; they won’t take any chances.

“Another shop was raided a while ago, and it turned out it was just because a customer was not very happy with the service they had received. It was shut for a couple of days, and then the police found out it was just somebody with a vendetta.”

He said the men who ran the Islamic bookshop nearby has also been in his shop. “They seemed like nice young lads,” he said.

“They were starting up a new business and they were doing it quite professionally. The weren’t just saying ‘Let’s see how it goes’.

“The shop was quite nicely laid out. It had been there for around two years.”

He said Sparkhill is generally a peaceful community and had become more close-knit since the 9/11 terror attacks.

“Fortunately for us, there has been no backlash among the white population since 9/11. Everybody is looking out for each other. The community has closed up a bit ever since. It’s fairly quiet. You’ve got all the normal problems like drugs and young people walking around but that’s all,” he added.

“It just shows you think you know people but perhaps you know nothing about them at all. If people are plotting something like this, they are not going to go around talking about it.”

Sparkhill is an area not used to being in the national spotlight. Indeed, looking at the posters around most of the shops, the main concern among residents and traders seems to be the council’s plans to turn the Stratford Road into a Red Route.

When approached, a young man outside a barber’s shop was prevented from talking by his father. He said he knew nothing about what the men are suspected of. “It’s normally a pretty quiet area round here. I have never had any trouble,” he said.