Latest news with #counterTerrorism
CTV News
a day ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Four arrested in connection with break-in at a U.K. military base
LONDON — British counter terrorism police said Friday that they have arrested four people in connection with a break-in at a military base last week, during which two planes were vandalized. Counter Terrorism Policing South East said in a statement that two men, 24 and 36, from London were arrested Thursday along with a 29-year-old woman of no fixed address 'on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.' A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed address, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They remain in police custody. The arrests relate to a break-in at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, during which two planes were damaged with red paint. The pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action subsequently released video footage appearing to show one of the two activists who entered the base spraying the paint into a jet's turbine engines. The group alleged that Britain was continuing to 'send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel U.S./Israeli fighter jets,' and condemned the country as 'an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.' Earlier this week, the British government said it will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. The measure means it will be a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison. The group has sought to press its point with high-profile direct action, perhaps most notably in March when it targeted one of U.S. President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Scotland, painting 'Gaza is Not For Sale' in giant letters on the lawn in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The government said a draft order for the ban will be laid in Parliament next week. Lawmakers still need to approve it. Britain's government has proscribed about 80 organizations, including Hamas and al Qaeda, and far-right groups such as National Action. The Associated Press
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UK police arrest four over pro-Palestinian protest at air base
LONDON: British counter-terrorism police have arrested four people in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest last week in which military planes were sprayed with paint at an air base in England, authorities said on Friday.A woman, 29, and two men aged 36 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, while another woman, 41, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, the police statement activists from the Palestine Action group broke into the air base in Oxfordshire in central England on June 20, spraying red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport, and further damaging them with crowbars, an act that was condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as 'disgraceful.'Within days of the incident, interior minister Yvette Cooper set out plans to use anti-terrorism laws to ban Palestine Action, saying its actions had become more aggressive and caused millions of pounds of Action has regularly targeted British sites connected to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in response to Friday's arrests, the campaign group accused authorities of 'cracking down on non-violent protests which disrupt the flow of arms to Israel during its genocide in Palestine.'The maximum sentence for preparation of terrorist acts, or to assist others in such preparation, in Britain is a life sentence. The government is also reviewing security across all defense has repeatedly dismissed accusations that it is committing genocide in the war in Gaza which began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 others hostage into launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.
Washington Post
a day ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Four arrested in connection with break-in at a UK military base
LONDON — British counter terrorism police said Friday that they have arrested four people in connection with a break-in at a military base last week, during which two planes were vandalised. Counter Terrorism Policing South East said in a statement that two men, 24 and 36, from London were arrested Thursday along with a 29-year-old woman of no fixed address 'on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.' A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed address, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They remain in police custody. The arrests relate to a break-in at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, during which two planes were damaged with red paint. The pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action subsequently released video footage appearing to show one of the two activists who entered the base spraying the paint into a jet's turbine engines. The group alleged that Britain was continuing to 'send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel U.S./Israeli fighter jets,' and condemned the country as 'an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.' Earlier this week, the British government said it will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. The measure means it will be a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison. The group has sought to press its point with high-profile direct action, perhaps most notably in March when it targeted one of U.S. President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Scotland, painting 'Gaza is Not For Sale' in giant letters on the lawn in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The government said a draft order for the ban will be laid in Parliament next week. Lawmakers still need to approve it. Britain's government has proscribed about 80 organizations, including Hamas and al-Qaida, and far-right groups such as National Action.
Associated Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Four arrested in connection with break-in at a UK military base
LONDON (AP) — British counter terrorism police said Friday that they have arrested four people in connection with a break-in at a military base last week, during which two planes were vandalised. Counter Terrorism Policing South East said in a statement that two men, 24 and 36, from London were arrested Thursday along with a 29-year-old woman of no fixed address 'on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.' A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed address, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They remain in police custody. The arrests relate to a break-in at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, during which two planes were damaged with red paint. The pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action subsequently released video footage appearing to show one of the two activists who entered the base spraying the paint into a jet's turbine engines. The group alleged that Britain was continuing to 'send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel U.S./Israeli fighter jets,' and condemned the country as 'an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.' Earlier this week, the British government said it will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. The measure means it will be a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison. The group has sought to press its point with high-profile direct action, perhaps most notably in March when it targeted one of U.S. President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Scotland, painting 'Gaza is Not For Sale' in giant letters on the lawn in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The government said a draft order for the ban will be laid in Parliament next week. Lawmakers still need to approve it. Britain's government has proscribed about 80 organizations, including Hamas and al-Qaida, and far-right groups such as National Action.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Neo-Nazi teenager snared by MI5 as he tried to buy gun for attack, court told
A neo-Nazi teenager was snared by police and MI5 as he tried to buy a Makarov pistol for a terrorist attack, a court has heard. Alfie Coleman was detained by armed police in a Morrisons car park moments after he paid £3,500 in exchange for what he thought was a gun and ammunition, the Old Bailey was told. It was the culmination of a 'highly sophisticated operation' in which an undercover officer from MI5 allegedly agreed to sell Coleman weaponry, jurors were told. Former Tesco worker Coleman had allegedly engaged in online chat with several undercover officers over months as he tried to buy the gun on various encrypted messaging platforms. Prosecutor Nicholas De La Poer KC said an arrangement was made with the undercover officer for the supply of a Makarov pistol, five magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition. Coleman was allegedly told they would be in a Land Rover Discovery parked in the Morrisons car park in Stratford, east London. On the morning of September 29 2023, the defendant left £3,500 in cash in the front passenger seat footwell and collected the bag of items from the boot. But before he had gone 30 yards, he was confronted by armed counter-terrorism police and arrested, the court was told. Inside the bag he was carrying was what appeared to be a handgun and around 200 rounds of ammunition, jurors heard. Mr De La Poer said members of the public going about their business shopping at Morrisons had witnessed the 'shocking scene' as Coleman was detained by three counter-terrorism officers pointing stun guns. He said: 'There was much shouting at the young man. More men appeared and took hold of the young man who ended up on the ground.' While planning a gun attack, the defendant had gathered terrorist information, carried out online research, and wrote a 'manifesto', jurors were told. Mr De La Poer told jurors: 'The prosecution's case is that Mr Coleman believed in an extreme right-wing ideology which included idolising the likes of Thomas Mair, the man who murdered the MP, Jo Cox.' He believed in the 'the supremacy of white people and neo-Nazism' and collected a number of documents to help with his attack planning, the prosecutor said. He went on: 'The prosecution's case is that Mr Coleman engaged in conversation on encrypted social media platforms such as Wire and Telegram with people whom he thought were sympathetic to his views. 'And it was through such people that Mr Coleman sought to buy firearms. A mission which led him to the Morrison's carpark in Stratford on the morning of September 29 2023.' The court heard how the defendant had emailed the far-right white supremacist organisation Patriotic Alternative in July 2021 saying he 'would like to start participating in activism'. In June 2022, the defendant allegedly wrote a plan for a potential terrorist attack identifying his initial target as the ' Mayor of London house' and included the postcode of the Lord Mayor of London. The note also made reference to what appeared to be a plan to put explosive in a cash machine and listed weapons including knives and crossbows, the court was told. In the event, the plans were abandoned as his thinking developed, jurors heard. Jurors were told of a file entitled 'you can't see me' containing another attack plan, this time to hijack a plane. Mr De La Poer said that in the 'cold light of day' this plan appeared to be 'far-fetched and childish'. He went on: 'The prosecution's case is that however he presented to the outside world when at work, Mr Coleman was seething with hatred on the inside. As a result he created a list.' In September 2022, the defendant allegedly compiled a list of vehicle number plates on his phone, with one belonging to a colleague at Tesco labelled 'race traitor'. Jurors heard how he had singled out the white female co-worker who was married to a man of mixed Indian and Seychellois heritage. At the time, the defendant's reading included an extreme right-wing text which included a scene entitled 'The Day of the Rope' in which 'white race traitors' were hanged on a single day. In the summer of 2023, the defendant allegedly turned his attention to an attack in France and attempted to arrange the purchase of military grade weaponry there. In a 'Diary' document, he allegedly explained he had picked France because it was close to 'all out race war' and it was 'where I feel most useful and where I can create the biggest impact'. In the event, Coleman never travelled to France due to practical difficulties, jurors were told. Two days before he was due to pick up the Makarov and ammunition in Stratford, Coleman allegedly told an online contact: 'Just something has gotta be done, how long can we sit here and talk over the internet.' The same day, Coleman ordered a Gerber Strong Arm knife with a 4.8 inch blade online, the court was told. Jurors were told that Coleman accepted he had a significant quantity of extreme right-wing material and had pleaded guilty to possessing 10 documents which contain information likely to be useful to terrorists. The defendant did not dispute writing a text bearing similarities to other 'manifestos' written by convicted extreme right-wing terrorists nor that he engaged in chat on Telegram and Wire with people who proclaimed extreme right-wing views and idolised Hitler, jurors heard. Coleman has also pleaded guilty to attempting to possess both a firearm and ammunition but denied he was preparing for a terrorist attack. Mr De La Poer said the defendant would claim he did not agree with everything he read and was always changing what he thought. The defendant had dismissed the manifesto and online chat as a 'fantasy' and claimed he wanted a gun and ammunition because he thought that the breakdown of society was coming. Coleman, now aged 21, of Great Notley in Essex, has denied preparing acts of terrorism and the trial continues.
