Police Arrest 5 Terror Suspects Near UK Nuclear Plant

British police said Tuesday they had arrested five men under anti-terrorism legislation close to a nuclear plant in northwest England.

The men were stopped in a vehicle by officers near the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria at around 4:30 pm (1530 GMT) on Monday.

"Police officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary conducted a stop check on a vehicle close to the Sellafield site in West Cumbria," said the statement from Cumbria Police.

"As a result, police officers from Cumbria Constabulary arrested five men from London, all aged in their 20s, under section 41 of the Terrorism Act."

The men are being moved to Manchester, northwest England, where a police counter-terrorism unit will take over the investigation, added the statement.

Britain is on high alert after U.S. special forces killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan late Sunday, sparking fears of revenge attacks.

There was no immediate suggestion that the arrests were linked to any specific plot.

Sellafield is the biggest nuclear site in Europe and most of the plutonium in Britain is stored there.

It opened in 1947 and Calder Hall, the first nuclear power station to produce electricity in commercial quantities, opened at the site in 1956.

Calder Hall closed in 2003 and work at Sellafield now focuses on dismantling old nuclear reactors and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.