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Five men arrested across England over ‘terror plot’

Four suspects arrested in joint operation accused of preparing an act of terrorism

Security Correspondent

Monday 30 December 2019 15:25 GMT

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Five men arrested across England over ‘terror plot’

Five men have been arrested by counterterror police across England over an alleged plot.

The suspects were detained in coordinated raids in London, Peterborough and Manchester on Monday morning.

Four were arrested on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism, while the fifth man is accused of encouraging terrorism.

“All five men remain in police custody at this time,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said.

“Searches are currently being carried out a number of addresses in Manchester, Peterborough and north London.”

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Show all 14

1/14UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Oxford Street terror plot

Lewis Ludlow was jailed for life in March 2019 for planning a 'spectacular multi-victim attack' on Oxford Street in London. He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey last year to plotting an attack in the UK and funding Isis abroad

EPA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Rosie Cooper MP plot

Jack Renshaw admitted plotting to kill his local Labour MP with a machete in June 2018. Renshaw bought a 19in machete intending to use it to kill Rosie Cooper, MP for West Lancashire. His plan was foiled by whistleblower Robbie Mullen, who heard of the plot in a meeting of alleged and convicted National Action members in the Friar Penketh pub in Warrington

Hope Not Hate

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

'Poppy terror plot'

Nadir Ali Sayed, his cousin Yousaf Shah Syed, and Haseeb Hamayoon, were charged with terrorism offences over an alleged plot to behead a member of public. The trio were arrested in London and High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire on 6 November - three days before Remembrance Sunday in 2014

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

National Action arrests

Following the arrest of six men in 2018 on suspicion that they were members of the banned far-right terror group National Action, two were jailed. Christopher Lythgoe was found to be leader of the banned group and jailed for eight years, while Matthew Hankinson was jailed for six years. While it was found that Lythgoe did not encourage Jack Renshaw's plot to kill a Labour MP, the judge noted that he "did nothing to stop or discourage" the attack

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Shane Fletcher

A self-described 'loner', Fletcher planned to kill members of the public at a football match in his home town of Workington. He had been referred to the government's Prevent programme nine moths prior to his arrest after stating that he dreamed about "shooting up a mosque"

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Heathrow airport arrests

A 19-year-old from Coventry man was arrested at London's Heathrow airport on suspicion of preparing for acts of terrorism in November 2014

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Extradition of Abu Hamza

Radical muslim cleric Abu Hamza was extradited to the US in 2014 after having been jailed in the UK for 7 years for 11 offences under the Terrorism Act

Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

South East Counter Terrorism Unit arrests

Six people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids in the south of England in October 2014. Three men and three women were detained separately in two properties in Portsmouth, one in Farnborough and one in Greenwich following an operation by the South East Counter Terrorism Unit. Counter-terror officers said they had disrupted what was believed to be the early stages of what could have turned into a “significant plot”

PA

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

October 2014 arrests

Three men were arrested in central London on 13 October as part of an investigation into Islamist-related terrorism. The arrests come nearly a week after five men were arrested in dawn raids that Whitehall officials said “may have foiled the early stages” of a plan to attack the UK

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Anjem Choudary arrest

Anjem Choudary, the radical activist and co-founder of the banned al-Muhajiroun group, was arrested in September 2014 as efforts intensify to disrupt the ideological backers of young British Muslims travelling to fight in foreign conflicts. Mr Choudary was among nine men held on suspicion of supporting a banned terrorist group and encouraging terrorism. The arrests came shortly after Mr Choudary fired off a series of angry tweets after David Cameron called on MPs to back air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria

Oli Scarff/Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

North West Counter Terrorism Unit funds seizing

Police seize £250,000 of cash intended to fund Isis at Manchester Airport and north-west ports. Using powers under the Terrorism Act, the money was confiscated by officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit in Ocotber 2014

Getty

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Tarik Hassane arrest

A medical student who was offered a place at a London university has been named among four men who are being questioned by counter-terror police after a series of raids across the capital. Tarik Hassane, 21, is believed to have been Tasered when he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a "significant" Islamist terror plot on 7 October 2015

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Abu Qatada removed from UK

Radical preacher Abu Qatada will not be returning to the UK after being cleared of terror charges in Jordan in 2013

Reuters

UK terror plots that were foiled by security services

Haider Ahmed knife plot

Teenage Isis supporter Haider Ahmed purchased a 15ins hunting knife and threatened to launch a stabbing attack on the Tube. Prosecutors said he may alternatively have been planning to rob someone with the weapon to fund his travel to fight for Isis in Syria He was jailed for preparing an act of terrorism in June 2019

Counter Terrorism Policing South East

The investigation is being led by Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism command, with support from Counter Terrorism Policing North West and the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit.

A Metropolitan Police statement said: “The arrests were part of a pre-planned operation and there is not believed to be any imminent threat to the public in relation to this.

“The arrests are not linked to the attack at Fishmongers’ Hall in London on 29 November, nor the forthcoming New Year’s Eve celebrations. Enquiries continue.”

The suspects are two men aged 22 and 23 who were arrested in north London, a 21-year-old man detained in Manchester and a 19-year-old man arrested in Peterborough who are all accused of the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

Another 19-year-old man was also arrested in Peterborough on suspicion of encouraging terrorism.

The operation came a month after an Islamist extremist stabbed two people to death in a terror attack at Fishmongers’ Hall in London.

Usman Khan, who was previously jailed over a bomb plot, was chased onto London Bridge by bystanders including former prison inmates and shot dead by police.

A total of 259 terror arrests were made across the UK in the year to September, but only 88 resulted in a charge.

White people made up the largest group of suspects (41 per cent) followed by Asian people (37 per cent) and black people (9 per cent), the Home Office said.

The majority of suspects were British, with other nationalities including Algerian, Pakistani, Iraqi, Iranian and Somalian.

Security services have foiled 24 terror plots – 16 Islamist and eight right wing – since the Westminster attack in March 2017.