FIFTH man arrested on suspicion of plotting UK terror attack
FIFTH man arrested on suspicion of plotting UK terror attack
It comes after four other men were seized in dawn police swoops on Tuesday - including a suspected Islamic State veteran
Threat: The authorities say they have disrupted a 'significant plot'
A fifth man has been arrested in connection with an alleged terror plot targeting the UK.
It comes after four other men were seized in dawn police swoops on Tuesday - including an Islamic State veteran.
All
have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission,
preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act.
Officers
have been granted a custody extension until next Tuesday, October 14,
to question the men arrested on Tuesday, all of who are aged between 20
and 21.
Counter-terror officers believe the raids were an "early disruption" of what could have turned into a "significant plot". Targeted: One of the men is said to have trained at an ISIS camp
At least one of the four suspects arrested earlier in London
is thought to have trained with ISIS and returned to the UK after
fighting on the Syrian killing fields.
Dozens
of IS fighters are thought to have been stopped at the border as they
attempt to return to the UK but this person is understood to have gone
home and remained under surveillance.
The men were held by counter terror police and assisted by armed officers who tasered one during the the early morning raids.
A
number of residential addresses and vehicles were searched by
specialist officers in west and central London as part of the
investigation.
The ISIS suspect was taken in West London and armed police were at at least one of the raids.
Much of the focus of MI5’s battle against Islamic extremism
has switched to West and East London after a number of successful
counter-terror operations in North London.
British police arrested 11 people last month in other Islamist-related operations.
It was not immediately clear if the various investigations were connected.
A
Scotland Yard statement said: “These arrests and searches are part of
an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism.”
In
August the Security Service pushed up the UK’s threat level warning
about international terrorism - like that from Islamic extremism - to
“severe” meaning an attack is “highly likely.”
The level had until
then been set at “substantial” for more than a year - even though the
sudden increased alert status was recently said not to be related to a
particular plot.
On social media British jihadists fighting
in Syria have threatened to launch a terror attack in Britain in a mark
of retribution against UK airstrikes in Iraq.
They claim the attack would parallel the 7/7 London bombings and beheading of soldier Lee Rigby.
Reacting
to RAF missions that have struck Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)
militants, vehicles, and positions, a British jihadist based in the
Middle East delivered an in-depth interview via social media on
Wednesday.
He said that those who have travelled to war-torn Syria
to fight in the region could potentially return to conduct attacks in
Britain.
The message said: “Tell the Brit govt to withdraw unless
they want the days of 7/7, and Adebolajo [to] become regular days,” he
warned, referencing Michael Adebolajo, one of two young men who murdered
Rigby in Woolwich last year.
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