The driver, former soldier John Broomfield, 27, and six others were arrested for conspiracy to cause an explosion, but were all later released without charge.

Police said they had been working closely with the Muslim community since the incident.

It appears officers had followed Broomfield home from work and pounced as he waited in traffic in Corfe Castle.

A "rapid tyre deflation" round was used to disable the vehicle, and Broomfield was hauled out and arrested.

Police, including forensic officers, then swooped on Broomfield's home in Swanage, Dorset, and seized computer equipment, mobile phones and passports.

At the same time, six other people were arrested at various addresses on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion. They were later released without charge.

Describing the experience as "traumatic", Broomfield said: "While travelling home from work I was stopped and arrested by armed police. I approached a roundabout near Corfe Castle and there were about six cars in front of me.

"There was an unmarked police car in a lay-by, and within seconds of me stopping, police appeared from it, ran up the road and shot at my tyres and smashed the window in."

"I was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion at a Bournemouth mosque."

Broomfield claimed that of those arrested, five were members of the EDL. All were released without charge within 24 hours.

He alleged that police had carried out surveillance of an EDL meeting where he said members had been discussing sites of possible future demonstrations.

But he claimed: "There has been no conspiracy, there has never been any conspiracy. The EDL is not a terrorist organisation. We are not anti-Muslim; we are anti-Muslim extremism."

The arrests took place on Thursday last week, but details have only now emerged. Broomfield claimed police believed an attack was due to take place on Friday. He said he had lost a job in property maintenance as a result of the incident, and intended to speak to a solicitor about it.

A police spokesman said: "We have been working very closely with the Muslim community since last Thursday and our local safer neighbourhood teams have been providing advice and reassurance throughout. At this stage there is no indication whatsoever that any of the mosques in Dorset are under threat of attack."

A police source confirmed the inquiry concerned suspected members of the EDL.

The EDL, which started in Luton last year, and whose supporters are split into "divisions" across the UK, has become the most significant far-right street movement in the UK since the National Front in the 1970s. A Guardian investigation earlier this summer identified a number of known rightwing extremists taking an interest in the movement – from convicted football hooligans to members of violent rightwing splinter groups.

Many of its protests, which have sometimes attracted as many as 3,000 people, have descended into violence and racist and Islamophobic chanting.



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