Counter-terrorism operation arrests four London men

The Metropolitan Police has said that they have arrested four men in London in their latest counter-terrorism operation.

11:21 14 October 2013

Metropolitan police who searched six addresses on Sunday have revealed that their counter-terrorism operation has led to the arrest of four men in London. 

Two of the men were arrested in Mansell Street, Whitechapel, east London. One man was arrested at a house in Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, west London, and the fourth man in Peckham Hill Street, Peckham, south-east London.

Scotland Yard said that they were held under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

Alistair Gillies, 38, witnessed one of the arrests and told BBC: "I was just going out to try and get something to eat and walking back up Westbourne Grove towards Bayswater and I noticed that a police car had pulled across the road.

"There was probably in the region of about two dozen officers. The majority of them appeared to be plain clothes but they had on baseball caps with the checkerboard and police marking, apart from that, they were dressed in plain clothes."

He added: "It didn't look like they had just pulled a car over or had just picked someone up. It looked like there was a great deal of planning and a great deal of resources had been put on to tackling this situation."