Troops among 4 neo-Nazis nabbed in UK

Some of the four alleged members of a banned British neo-Nazi group arrested on Tuesday for terror offenses are serving soldiers, Britain’s defense ministry said.

National Action became the first far-right group to be outlawed by the government in December last year, six months after the assassination of lawmaker Jo Cox by a far-right sympathizer.

The four suspects are being held “on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism,” British police said in a statement.

Authorities did not name the four but said they were aged between 22 and 32 and came from Birmingham, Ipswich and Northampton in England and Powys in Wales.

“The arrests were preplanned and intelligence-led; there was no threat to the public’s safety,” the statement said, adding that raids were also being carried out on “a number of properties.”

The ministry of defense later said that some of the suspects were serving soldiers, but did not reveal how many.

“We can confirm that a number of serving members of the Army have been arrested under the Terrorism Act for being associated with a proscribed far-right group,” it said in statement.

“These arrests are the consequence of a Home Office Police Force led operation supported by the Army,” it added.

Cox, an MP from the main opposition Labour party, was shot and stabbed to death in her constituency by far-right nationalist Thomas Mair in June 2016.