Six arrested in UK as police claim IS inspired terror plot

Six people were arrested in the UK early on Tuesday on terror charges “related to the ongoing conflict in Syria,” according to a police statement.

Three men and three women were arrested in two house raids at properties in Portsmouth, on the south coast of England. Thames Valley Police said “the majority of those arrested are suspected of helping others rather than having been there themselves.”

Two of the men, aged 26 and 23, and two of the women, 23 and 29, were detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 “on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.”

A 57-year-old man was held accused of “failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism”, being “engaged in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts”, and “arranging availability of money and property for use in terrorism”.

A 48-year-old woman was also arrested on suspicion of “arranging availability of money and property for use in terrorism.”

Police stood guard outside the raided homes, according to the Daily Telegraph, who reported that a window was smashed at the property in Portsmouth.

British police revealed on 8 October they “may have foiled the early stages” of an Islamic State (IS) group inspired terror plot, after five people were arrested in London last week.

Officials have not given any details of the claimed plot and human rights groups have criticised “alarmist reporting” by media outlets in covering the arrests.

CAGE, a UK-based rights group, criticised the “violent manner” of the arrests, including that of 21-year-old Tarik Hassane, who was tasered by police during a raid on his home on 7 October.

“Sections of the media have failed to question the police’s activities and have instead sought to cast Tarik Hassane as guilty before proven innocent, something supported by claims from MI5 that an ISIS [an alternative acronym for IS] terror plot had been uncovered,” said CAGE spokesperson Cerie Bullivant. “Such claims give further credence to a belief among many that Muslims have become a suspect community.”

“The media hysteria may have destroyed any hope that he will be able to pursue his medical studies in the UK.”

Hassane had travelled to London from Sudan, where he is a medical student, to celebrate the festival of Eid with his family, according to CAGE.

Reporting of Hassane’s arrest has focused on a tweet he sent out on the day of his arrest that said “oi lads I smell war”. CAGE said this comment has been “isolated and stripped of its surrounding context as evidence of Hassane’s assumed guilt by a number of mainstream media outlets.”

One of those involved in the Twitter conversation said Hassane had been "speaking about girls."

The Sudanese university where Hassane is enrolled on a medical degree has released a statement praising him as a good student and expressing surprise at his detention in the UK.

“Through records and consulting with his group of colleague[s] (of 10 students) who confirm Tarik is polite, peaceful, well-respected, a devout Muslim and shares no inclination to violence,” the statement read. “He, according to his colleagues, deplores violence and is critical about terrorism.”

“All those who know him think he is a reasonable guy and were surprised with the accusations.”