Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Terror suspect, 21, arrested in east London on suspicion of helping would-be jihadist travel to Syria

  • Man held on suspicion of Syria-related terror offences after dawn raid
  • His home is now being searched and he has been detained in London
  • Follows series of raids which police say are linked to Syria in recent weeks
  • Two quizzed last week and four charged this month in separate probes 
A 21-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences in a dawn raid in east London.

The suspect was held in Hackney, north east London, on suspicion of assisting another to commit acts of terrorism by travelling abroad.

Police are now searching the property where he was arrested and he is being questioned at a police station in central London.

It is understood that the arrest is linked to Syria, where hundreds of would-be jihadis have travelled to fight alongside extremists group ISIS.

Counter-terrorism experts in the UK have expressed increasing concern about what will happen if a slew of militarised fighters decide to return home.

A police spokesman said: 'A 21-year-old man was arrested at around 6am today at a residential address in Hackney.

'He was arrested on suspicion of assisting another to commit acts of terrorism, or to engage in any conduct for the committing of such acts, by facilitating another to travel abroad, contrary to the Terrorism Act 2006.

'Police are searching the residential address in Hackney. The man has been taken to a central London police station where he remains in custody.'

It comes after a 32-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were arrested by anti-terror police in two unconnected probes also linked to Syria last week.

The man was arrested in west London on suspicion of having visited a terrorist training camp and the woman was arrested in Bedford in another terror probe.

Four properties, two in west London and two in Bedford, were searched by specialist police officers as part of their enquiries.

Earlier this month, a number of terror suspects were charged with plotting to kill policemen and soldiers in London drive-by shootings.

Tarik Hassane, 21, Suhaib Majeed, 20, Nyall Hamlett, 24, and Momen Motasim, 21, all from London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court amid tight security as they were charged with an Islamic State-inspired gun plot.

It was alleged to have been formulated following a fatwa by a senior ISIS terrorist.

Earlier this month, two houses in Portsmouth - including the family home of Ifthekar Jaman, a British man who died in Syria - were among properties raided by counter-terrorism police. 

Britain's top policeman, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said last week that at least five Britons a week are heading to the war-ravaged country to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.

Sir Bernard said: 'Those numbers are a minimum. There may be many more who set out to travel to another country and meandered over to Syria and Iraq in a way that is not always possible to spot when you have failed states and leaky borders.'

No comments: