Four men arrested over alleged Islamist terror plot

Arrests have been made overnight across west London and the Thames Valley

Armed police assisted with three of the four arrests. (Armed police)

Police have arrested four men in connection with an alleged Islamist terror plot.

Scotland Yard said counter-terrorism police detained the men overnight at locations across the Thames Valley area and west London.

The men range in age from 19 to 27 years old, and were arrested under suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

The arrests and searches are part of an "on-going investigation into Islamist-related terrorism", the Metropolitan Police said.

Armed police assisted officers during three of the arrests, one of which took place on the street rather than at an address. No gunshots were fired during the operation, however.

No further details of the arrests were made public.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) are working with the South East Counter Terrorism Unit (Sectu) and MI5.

The operation comes months after the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised Britain’s terror alert level to “severe” meaning an attack is “highly likely”.

The rise in the level came against a backdrop of concerns about hundreds of people travelling from the UK to Iraq and Syria to fight alongside Isis (also known as Islamic State) militants.