A British Government minister has told the Premier of the UK's "anger and profound disappointment" at the way the four Guantánamo Bay Uighurs were secretly brought to Bermuda.

Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant met with Ewart Brown in England on Thursday, when they discussed the economy, crime and the Queen's upcoming visit to Bermuda.

Mr. Bryant said: "We also discussed the four former Guantánamo detainees who landed in Bermuda in June.

"I expressed our anger and profound disappointment at the way the Bermudan (sic) Government had acted. This action breached the terms of the Bermuda Constitution and the requirement to consult the UK Government on matters relating to foreign affairs and security.

"We agreed that the UK and Bermuda governments would continue to work together to resolve the issue."

The Premier said he told parliamentary under-secretary of state Mr. Bryant, who is responsible for overseas territories, that his Government wanted operational responsibility for policing, as opposed to just controlling the purse strings.

"I took the opportunity to emphasise the concerns of the Government and people of Bermuda about the need to fully engage in the fight against crime and to stamp out the trend toward gun violence," said Dr. Brown. "The new Minister was receptive to our position."

Dr. Brown and Mr. Bryant will meet again at the Overseas Territories Consultative Council meeting in December.

The Premier met with Foreign Secretary David Miliband this week too; he told another newspaper that their discussion was positive and cordial and that the UK's stance on the Uighurs had mellowed since June.

The Uighurs — who spent seven years at Guantánamo and were twice cleared as enemy combatants by the US — also came up during a session with Shadow Foreign Minister William Hague.

Mr. Hague's spokesman said: "In a frank and constructive exchange they spoke about the issues affecting Britain's Overseas Territories, as well as issues of particular importance to Bermuda, like education, its tax status and the four former Guantánamo bay prisoners now residing on the island."

A conservative North Carolina group has spent $10,000 to air ads in South Carolina next week claiming that President Barack Obama has freed terrorists to Bermuda, Raleigh news website WRAL.com reported yesterday.

The site said the inaccurate wakeupamerica.com 30-second adverts would run for two weeks from Monday.

Police in Bermuda concluded after a security review that the four Uighurs posed a moderate threat, with no specific concerns. The men's lawyers have described them as never having been involved in terrorist activity.