[JURIST] Scotland Yard [official website] received a final one-week extension from a High Court judge in London Wednesday, permitting British police to detain and question five British Muslim men suspected in connection with an alleged terror plot [JURIST report] to blow up US-bound planes over the Atlantic for an additional seven days before they must either charge the suspects with a crime or release them. The extension marks the longest detention [JURIST report] yet of suspected terrorists under the Terrorism Act of 2006 [text], which grants the British government the authority to detain and question suspected terrorists without charge for up to 28 days, up from the previous 14-day limit. Reuters has more.

British police charged [JURIST report] three other terror suspects Tuesday with conspiracy to murder and planning to smuggle "component parts of improvised explosive devices" onto airplanes in conjunction with the plot, bringing to 15 the number of suspects formally accused.