By DPA
London : Some of the eight suspects arrested in connection with the terror plots in London and Glasgow were known to Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5 before the attacks took place, it emerged Wednesday.
A number of those detained had appeared on the MI5 database in connection with people they knew. Government sources said that the security service had established "linkages" with a number of the individuals although it was not clear how much was known about them.
Seven men and one woman, all doctors, medical students or health workers, are in custody in Britain and Australia over the three failed car bombings at the end of last week.
They came from Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and India and were all employed by Britain's National Health Service (NHS) at some point.
A source said that MI5 had been able to pass on valuable information to the police, which had helped to speed up their operation.
"It has taken a while but it appears that there are some linkages which refer to some of the individuals that have been detained," one source said.
Police sources said Tuesday that the "active phase of arrest" had been completed.
They are investigating whether the two men held for ramming a flaming jeep through the main entrance of Glasgow airport Saturday also parked the two Mercedes car bombs in London a day earlier.
The devices, made of petrol, gas and nails, failed to go off. The two London bombs, discovered purely by chance early last Friday, would have caused "carnage," police said.