Four men arrested in anti-terrorism raids across London
Metropolitan police send in elite armed officers to arrest four men under Terrorism Act 2000 in intelligence-led operation
Vikram Dodd and Sophie Robehmed
The Guardian, Sunday 13 October 2013 22.38 BST
The Metropolitan police are carrying out searches at six addresses in London. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command on Sunday deployed elite armed officers to arrest four suspects in London.
Counter-terrorism officials ordered the arrests after intelligence was gathered in an operation with the security service, MI5.
The arrests were co-ordinated at three sites across east, west and south London at around 7.10pm on Sunday. Scotland Yard said officers from its elite firearms unit C019 were involved in the arrests, a decision made following a risk assessment, and that no shots were fired.
Police said all four of the arrests were made "on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000 (Section 41- 1B)."
Two men were arrested in Mansell Street, east London. Another man was arrested at a premises on Westbourne Grove, west London. The fourth man was arrested in Peckham, south-east London.
They are being held at Southwark police station in south London.
Police and the UK authorities gave only sparse detail about the arrests. The police would not say what sort of terrorist cause the suspects are alleged to be involved in.
UK counter-terrorism chiefs believe the main threats to the UK comes from al-Qaida inspired terrorism and from dissident Irish Republicans.
After the arrests, police said searches were being carried out at six addresses in London, under powers granted by Terrorism Act 2000.
In a statement police said: "Public safety remains our overriding concern."
They added the arrests came during a "pre-planned intelligence-led operation".
One witness to the west London arrest said the man arrested was white, according to the Press Association news agency.
The man who witnessed the arrest on Westbourne Grove – a street lined with restaurants and shops in Notting Hill – said what unfolded was "quite a scene".
