14 men arrested in London anti-terror raids

British police have arrested 14 men in a series of dramatic anti-terror raids targeting the alleged recruitment, training and encouragement of people to take part in terrorist acts.

The men, who are thought to be mainly young British Muslims of Pakistani origin, were held in London overnight, with several arrested at a Chinese restaurant in the Borough area of the city.

Detectives were today carrying out searches at a large number of residential properties across London – running into double figures – as well as at an Islamic school in Mark Cross in east Sussex.

The men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 after months of surveillance involving Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch and MI5. They are now in custody at Paddington Green high-security police station.

Security sources said the investigation was focusing on the alleged recruitment and radicalisation of young British Muslims and the facilitation of training for terrorism purposes.

It is not yet clear whether the men were part of one group, or disparate groups who knew each other.

Police have only just started the searches and have not ruled out the possibility that the investigation may take them elsewhere once their inquiries are complete.

Sources said there was no evidence that any kind of terror attack was imminent, although police have not disclosed why it was felt necessary to intervene overnight.

“Part of the investigation will focus on the alleged training, recruitment and encouraging of others to take part in terrorist acts,” a source said. “It is very early days and we do not know where this will take us until we do all the searches.”

However, another security source went further and suggested those allegedly involved may not just have been recruiting and training suspects, but actually plotting an attack. There has been no official confirmation of this.

A spokeswoman for Home Secretary John Reid said he had been “kept fully informed of the developments about the counter-terror operation”.

Peter Clarke, head of the Ant-Terrorist Branch, said this weekend that police were trying to keep tabs on “thousands” of people directly or indirectly involved in terrorism in the UK. About 70 counter terrorism investigations are currently on-going.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the men had been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

The spokesman said: “Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Anti-Terrorist Branch have arrested 14 men under the Terrorism Act 2000 in a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation.

“The arrests in south and east London follow many months of surveillance and investigation in a joint operation involving the Anti-Terrorist Branch, Special Branch and the Security Service.”

The spokesman added that the arrests were not linked to the recent alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners or the July 7 bombings in London.

In a separate development not linked to the London operation two men were arrested in anti-terror raids in Manchester.