RELIGIOUS zealots have vowed to continue distributing their literature despite being the subject of a 20-month investigation by anti-terror police.

Organisers of a temporary stall which distributes leaflets promoting their beliefs say they now aim to expand their campaign into new parts of Stoke-on-Trent.

And the men, who are all Muslim, also want to have a debate about their beliefs with the city's political leaders.

The Sentinel reported yesterday how Staffordshire Police announced that there would be no prosecutions brought as a result of raids at five city addresses in July 2008.

A 20-month investigation drew to a close on Thursday after the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone for either terrorism or public order offences.

Within hours of being informed of the decision by letter on Thursday, three men whose homes were targeted two years ago were manning their stall in Burslem.

They have remained in operation while the police investigation was conducted, but said they now intended to preach their message in new places.

The stallholders have taken the fact they were not prevented from setting up while under investigation as proof that they were acting within the law.

Call centre worker Abu Bosher, aged 25, from Cobridge, said: "If I was a genuine threat, they would have arrested me straightaway."

But Staffordshire Police have stressed that it deliberately kept the operation low-key as evidence was gathered and "meticulously" reviewed following a complaint from concerned members of the community.

But, now that it has concluded, the stallholders say they intend to roll the stall out further afield than its current temporary pitches in Cobridge, Burslem, Shelton and Tunstall.

Former Haywood High pupil Abu Sumayyah, from Cobridge, said: "We are going to be changing certain venues to try to broaden the areas we cover.

"We plan to do Hanley a bit more often and we are also trying to focus on campuses and universities, because we are looking at thinkers and we want to challenge them.

"We have also got a big thing coming up where we are going to challenge the democrats and open it up to a debate.

"If they want to take it up they can, but, if they do not, it will show that they are scared, or that we will get the better of them with our system."

The 24-year-old added: "They will not stop us unless they put us in prison, after making some more new laws, or unless we die.

"That is the only way we will stop."

Former Haywood High pupil Abu Saif, aged 18, from Cobridge, said: "We are going to carry on until the last breath, because we believe this is the truth."

However Steven Pritchard, chairman of Portland and Cobridge Residents' Association, said he would be watching them.

He told The Sentinel: "I don't like it. I don't like any religious extremism. I will be keeping a close eye on it."

But he added: "It has not really been an issue of concern in the last year or so."