Nine men have been arrested in London on suspicion of being part of a banned organisation, including the radical preacher Anjem Choudary.
Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) raided 18 premises across the capital and one in Stoke-on-Trent and arrested 18 men aged between 22 and 51 on suspicion of being members of a proscribed organisation, supporting a proscribed organisation contrary to Section 11 and 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and encouraging terrorism, contrary to Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006.
The raids are part of an ongoing investigation into Islamist-related terrorism and are not related to any specific or immediate threat to the public.
Choudary is a controversial extremist Muslim figure that was formerly the leader of the radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, also known as Islam4UK, which was banned in 2010.
