COMMUNITY leaders have hit out at the Metropolitan police -- and questioned their record on catching 'real' terrorists.

They spoke out after the Blackburn family of a man arrested, and a Little Harwood man whose house was searched, claimed the police had got it wrong.

Just 97 of the 562 people arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 have been charged with an offence, with 280 released without charge.

Shear Brow Coun Hussain Akhtar knows one of the families involved. He said: "As soon as I heard the news I went to see them. I know this man's father did a lot of work for the community. I can't believe this family is involved and I am sure they will be vindicated.

"I think we should be sure of what we know before we do anything about it. Things like this give our town a bad name."

Ibrahim Master, chairman of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, initially talked of his cynicism and suspicion immediately after the arrests.

Today he added: "The overwhelming majority of us are perfectly law-abiding. As a community we condemn all forms of terrorism, whether it is in the UK or elsewhere.

"The British Muslim community is not a threat to the national security of Britain.

"Whilst the Muslim community understands that these type of operations are sometimes designed to disrupt terrorists groups, the disproportionate number of arrests is concerning.

"When people hear about this, the first thing that enters their mind is the adverse impact of it and this will have a bad effect on race relations.

"However we will work with Lancashire police, whom we have a good relationship with, to assist in that respect."

Chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, Massoud Shadjareh, said: "The timing is very worrying and it is extremely annoying, especially when it actually affects the lives of ordinary people and they are suffering. It is increasing Islamophobia."

Professor Paul Rogers, a professor in peace studies at Bradford University, said many of those arrested for terrorism offences are eventually charged with credit card or fraud offences.

He added: "It can stir up quite a lot of antagonism in their home communities, particularly the Asian community in Britain.

"While the general population feel that something is being done, it does the reverse in the 'home' communities."