Two arrested over suspected Westminster terror plot

TWO men have been arrested by armed officers over a suspected terrorist plot after they were seen acting suspiciously in a car in Westminster.

The pair, who are both aged 34 and from east London, were held in Pall Mall in the early hours of yesterday.

It is understood that they could have been on a reconnaissance mission in the area, with sites including Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace and the Houses of Parliament all nearby.

Officers searched both of the men and their vehicle, but no firearms were discharged, the Metropolitan Police said. The men were arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts and are being held in custody at a central London police station.

Scotland Yard said they were stopped and arrested at around 12.10am yesterday by armed officers after they were seen acting suspiciously in a car in the Westminster area.

Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met Police counter terrorism command, said: “Every day, police officers are on patrol across the capital, watching for suspicious behaviour and stopping people they suspect may be involved in criminality.

“The public can help us continue to keep London safe by being vigilant and reporting any suspicious behaviour to police. Following the increase to the UK threat level from terrorism last week – as a precautionary measure in response to recent events in France and Austria – I would like to emphasise that the public should be alert but not alarmed.”

The Met’s counter-terrorism unit is leading the investigation.

The terrorism threat level was escalated from “substantial” to “severe” last week, meaning an attack on UK soil is now deemed “highly likely”.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said the decision was a “precautionary measure”, after Islamist attacks in Austria and France.

In Vienna, a gunman who killed four people this month was named by local press as Kujtim Fejzulai, a 20-year-old Austrian, who had previously been jailed for attempting to join Islamic State.

In France, a woman was decapitated, and two others were killed during a knife attack inside the Notre Dame Basilica church in Nice at the end of October.

On Wednesday, a former teenage soldier from Libya who was granted asylum in Britain despite having a string of criminal convictions and a history of mental health problems, admitted murdering three people during a knife rampage in Forbury Gardens, in Reading, Berks.

Khairi Saadallah, 26, who was said to have shouted “Allahu akbar” and was charged as a terrorist, had been due to go on trial on Nov 30.

At a hearing at the Old Bailey in London on Wednesday Saadallah pleaded guilty to three murders and three attempted murders, in an attack on June 20.

He denied he had been motivated by religious ideology.

‘Every day, officers are on patrol, watching out for suspicious behaviour and stopping people they suspect’