Four London men have been charged with terror-related offences following an investigation by MI5 which uncovered a plot to attack a UK target.
Newham residents Umar Ahmed Haque, Muhammad Abid, and Nadeem Ilyas Patel were arrested, along with Abuthaher Mamun from Barking, on Wednesday, 17 May, as part of an investigation by MI5 and the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Haque, 24, was charged with the intention to commit terrorism, and for undertaking preparations with that intent, along with four offences of holding information which would be useful to a person intending to commit an act of terrorism.
Abid, 27, was charged with failing to inform the police that Haque was planning to carry out an attack.
Mamun, 18, was charged with preparing to assist in a terror attack.
Patel, 25, was charged with conspiring with Haque to possess a firearm or imitation firearm with the intent of causing fear of violence.
All four were charged on Thursday and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.
The charges come as two men were arrested on suspicion of preparing for an act of terrorism.
Police arrested a 37-year-old man at Stanstead Airport on Tuesday night as he prepared to board a flight to Turkey. On Wednesday, they detained a 64-year-old at a business address in south London in relation to the same plot. Both arrests were in relation to travel to Syria.
The elder man has now been released, but the younger remains in custody after a warrant for further detention was authorised to allow enquiries to continue. Neither is believed to have a connection to the Manchester Arena bombing on Monday night.
Ten people have now been arrested in relation to that attack, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed; eight in suburbs of Manchester, including a 16-year-old boy and 34-year-old woman, both of whom were later released without charge. The other eight, including two men arrested in Wigan and Nuneaton, remain in custody.
Defending the security services from charges that it had allowed the Manchester bomber, Salman Abedi, to slip through the net after it emerged that five opportunities to intercept his plans had been missed, a Whitehall source revealed on Wednesday that the security services have prevented five attacks in the ten weeks since the Westminster attack in March.
MI5 is currently managing 500 active investigations, the source said, involving 3,000 subjects of interest at any one time.
The present status of post-Manchester related arrests is:
1.) 23/05/17: 24-year-old man arrested in Whalley Range on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
2.) 24/05/17: 24-year-old man arrested in Fallowfield on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
3.) 24/05/17: 21-year-old man arrested in Fallowfield on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
4.) 24/05/17: 18-year-old man arrested in Fallowfield on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
5.) 24/05/17: 33-year-old man arrested in Wigan on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
6.) 24/05/17: 22-year-old man arrested in Nuneaton on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
7.) 24/05/17: 34-year-old woman arrested in Blackley on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Released without charge.
8.) 25/05/17: 38-year-old man arrested in Blackley on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
9.) 25/05/17: 16-year-old boy arrested in Withington on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Released without charge.
10.) 26/05/17: 30-year-old man arrested in Moss Side on suspicion of offences contrary to the terrorism act. Remains in custody.
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