Eight arrested in two separate anti-terror operations

BBC | Seven Iranian nationals are among eight men arrested in two major counter-terrorism investigations that took place separately on Saturday.

Five of the arrests were part of a "pre-planned" investigation into an alleged plot to "target a specific premises", the Metropolitan Police said.

Dramatic footage taken in Rochdale showed one man removed from a house by armed officers - while another was filmed being dragged through the street in Swindon with plastic bags placed over his arms.

As part of a separate investigation led by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) - responsible for leading counter-terror and espionage investigations - three other Iranian men were arrested in London on Saturday.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the operations, worked on by hundreds of police officers and staff, were among "the biggest counter state threat and counter terrorism operations" in recent years.

Cdr Dominic Murphy, the CTC's head, stressed that they were not treating the two investigations into "separate incidents" as linked.

He said the operations were "certainly significant and it is unusual for us to conduct this scale of activity".

Four of the five men arrested at locations across England - two aged 29, one aged 40 and another aged 46 - are Iranian nationals. Police said the nationality and age of the fifth were still being established.

The men were arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester, and remain in police custody.

In a video captured by a resident, officers can be seen using an explosive to gain entry to a property. In another, officers carrying firearms and wearing helmets can be seen leading the suspect around the side of a house.

Video captured by a member of the public in Swindon shows officers wearing balaclavas and plain clothes, who can be seen dragging a suspect, with clear plastic bags over his arms, through a pedestrianised area.

One eyewitness told the BBC that six men entered a cafe the suspect was in and sat opposite him, before ordering coffee and donuts.

When the man left, they followed him out and "jumped on" him in the street "just near a Costa coffee", they said.

Police said the investigation that led to the England-wide arrests related to a suspected plot to target a "specific premises", which it did not name.

The "affected site" had been made aware and is being supported by police, the Met added.

Cdr Murphy said he was unable to discuss specifics of the alleged plot to target the site.

Four of the men were detained under the Terrorism Act. The fifth man was arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence (Pace) Act.

All five were also arrested on suspicion of preparation of an act of terrorism.

It is understood that military personnel assisted in the Rochdale raid.

The investigation into the five men is being led by the Met's CTC, supported by officers from Greater Manchester Police and Wiltshire Police, as well as counter-terrorism officers from across the country.

Cdr Murphy said: "The investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter."

Investigators would "continue to work tirelessly", he said, adding that there were "several hundred officers and staff working on this".

In the separate operation, the Met said three men - aged 39, 44 and 55 - were arrested under section 27 the National Security Act at separate addresses in north-west and west London, and had been taken into custody while searches continued.

The act covers offences deemed a threat to national security. Section 27 grants police the power to arrest someone without a warrant if they are reasonably suspected of being involved in "foreign power threat activity".

Cooper said the number and nature of the arrests "reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security that we continue to face".

She thanked police and security services "for the action they have taken to keep our country safe".

Last year, the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, said that since 2022, it had responded to 20 plots backed by Iran , which presented "potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents".

As part of a separate investigation led by the Met's Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) - responsible for leading counter-terror and espionage investigations - three other Iranian men were arrested in London on Saturday