Alleged terror plot in London: four men charged

The four men – Tarik Hassane, Suhaib Majeed, Nyall Hamlett and Momen Motasim – were charged on Friday with plotting the terror attack. It is alleged that they had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group, which now controls large areas in Iraq and Syria.

A fifth man, Nathan Cuffy, has been charged with firearms offences.

A fatwa and a moped

Details of the charges, provided by Metropolitan police, say the four men acquired a firearm and a moped as a part of the plot.

They also allegedly obtained an extract of the “fatwa of al Adnani”. Al-Adnani is a senior member of the Islamic State group and his fatwa, released last month, called for the killing of civilians in Western countries.

It is also alleged that the men, who are all in their 20s, carried out reconnaissance of Shepherd’s Bush police station and White City Territorial Army Barracks in London.

They had viewed and retained an image sent via Instagram of two Metropolitan Police officers and two Metropolitan Police community support officers, it is claimed.

It is also alleged they possessed jihadist material, including articles with graphic images of the beheading of Steven Sotloff.

All five men live in addresses in London and appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Exceptionally high numbers

News of the charges comes as Britain’s counter-terrorism chief warns that security services are dealing with “100 terror threats a week”.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said hundreds of suspected terrorists have been arrested so far this year, and that police are taking down more than 1,000 pieces of extremist material from the internet per week.

Mr Rowley said: “So far this year we have made 218 arrests and are running exceptionally high numbers of counter-terrorism investigations, the likes of which we have not seen for several years. Against an increasing operational tempo we are disrupting several attack plots a year.”