Boy, 13, arrested on terrorism charges

LONDON: A 13-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of committing terrorism offences as part of an investigation into the sharing of extreme Islamist material online, British police said yesterday.

The boy was arrested on Tuesday at an address in west London on suspicion of dissemination of terrorist material. He has since been released on police bail.

“While it is still very rare for such a young person to be arrested for a terrorism offence, in recent times we have seen a worrying increase in the number of teenagers being drawn into terrorism,” said Richard Smith, head of London police’s Counter Terrorism Command.