Four Men Charged With Terrorism Offences

Four men have been charged with terrorism offences after being arrested in Luton last week by the Counter Terrorism Command.

They were arrested on Tuesday and have been named as Zahid Iqbal, Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, Umar Arshad and Syed Farhan Hussain.

Piers Arnold, from the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said they have been charged with an offence contrary to section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

He added: "All four men are also individually charged with offences contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, namely possessing documents likely to be useful for a terrorist purpose."

The defendants are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later today.

Last week's raids took place at 7am and involved scores of police. Five men were arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

The fifth suspect was released without charge today because of insufficient evidence to prosecute him, Mr Arnold said.