Some terror suspects 'known to MI5'

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Whitehall 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.

Nevertheless the sources 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.

"As a result of these linkages we have been able to assist the police in their investigations and to help speed up some of the investigations."

The sources stressed that they had always expected that traces of at least some of the suspects would crop up somewhere in MI5's computer files.

They said that it would have been a matter of concern if there had been no references to them as it would have meant that they were not doing enough or that they were looking in the wrong areas.

While it was not clear whether all the members of the network had been captured there was a sense tonight that the police believed that they had the main players.

According to reports on Tuesday night, the men involved in car bomb attempts in central London were also involved in the attack in Scotland on Saturday, when a Jeep Cherokee was driven into the arrivals hall at Glasgow airport.

The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre will decide in the coming days whether there should be any lowering of the threat level - currently assessed as "critical", the most severe rating suggesting an attack is imminent.