London’s Metropolitan Police on April 27 arrested a man near the UK Parliament on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack.
The 27-year old man was arrested at 2:22pm in what police described as an intelligence-led stop and search on Parliament Street, close to the Treasury and the entrance to Westminster Underground station.
According to the BBC, the man was detained as part of an ongoing operation by the police counter-terrorism unit.
Police found knives in the man’s backpack during a search and arrested him on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, and on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.
The arrest took place close to the scene of a terror attack on March 23 when a man armed with a knife killed four people, including a police officer.
Our view of the incident in Westminster – unsure what had happened before armed police arrived pic.twitter.com/Af86cFrISX
— Dev Howard (@3213dev) April 27, 2017
A police forensics team was on the scene for a while on Thursday, but the road has been reopened.
In a statement, the Met police said the man has been detained under the Terror Act.
Detectives from the Counter Terrorism Command are continuing their investigation, and as a result of this arrest there is no immediate known threat.
Metropolitan Police statement
Police pick up knife after man arrested following incident in Whitehall near Houses of Parliament (Credit: @PA) https://t.co/qwtwgLz4LD pic.twitter.com/bkZD4lxxzl
— HuffPost UK (@HuffPostUK) April 27, 2017
