What I heard/read was the security agencies had this group "under surveillence" for some time however there was no immediate threat. They made the arrests last week because they had some evidence the plan may be ramping up. All of the arrests were at houses or flats or whatever. None of the arrests were made in the airports or near planes. I suspect they "pushed the panic button" because they were unable to locate/arrest a handful of people they knew were involved in the operation and also unsure if the arrests would kick off some sort of "plan B".
They are kind of damned if they do and damned if they don't do anything. I would agree they really seem to have overreacted.
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