Anti-terror police arrest two in 'Syria-related' raids in London and Bedford 

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A 32-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman have been arrested by anti-terror police in two separate probes linked to extremism in Syria.

The man was arrested on suspicion of having visited a terrorist training camp following a series of raids in the South East today.

Two houses, one in west London and another in south-west London, are now being searched by officers as part of that investigation.

The man was arrested after a woman was detained and two addresses in Bedfordshire - including one in Kempston, a suburb of Bedford - were searched as part of a separate inquiry, which is also linked to Syria.

A house in suburban Bedford was raided today as police arrested a woman on suspicion on terror offences

Police officers were seen searching the property throughout the day and removing computers and files

Announcing the latest arrest, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Officers from SO15 Counter Terrorism Command have today arrested a 32-year-old man on suspicion of attending a place used for terrorist training contrary to section 8 of Terrorism Act 2006.

'He has been taken to a central London police station where he remains in custody.

'An address in west London and an address in south-west London are being searched as part of the investigation under TACT. This investigation is Syria related.' 

Meanwhile, a uniformed police officer stood on duty outside an end of terrace house in Kempston, Bedford following an arrest in the area earlier in the day.

Locals say a young woman and a man, who they believed are husband and wife, lived there, along with two small children, a boy and a girl.

It is thought the occupants had been at the address for between 3 and 4 years. In the rear garden, a small child's toy bike could be seen.

Neighbour Susan Robinson, 52, said she regularly saw the woman who lived in the house walking along the street with her two young children.

Mrs Robinson said: 'When the lady first arrived in the street, she only had the one child. Since then, she's had another and I would see her walking past pushing a pram with her baby in and the toddler walking beside her.'

The search of the property, and three others today, follows a series of similar raids in recent weeks, which have led to four men appearing in court. Today's arrests are not believed the be linked to earlier investigations

A van was spotted outside the house, which neighbours said belonged to a man who lived in the property

Mrs Robinson added that the woman's partner had not been seen at the property for the last couple of months.

She described him as bearded and she said the woman always wore black, with a veil, so that just her eyes were visible.

'She did drive when she first arrived, but I've not seen her with a car for some time,' Mrs Robinson added.

Authorities believe more than 500 Britons have gone to Syria to fight alongside extremists, half of whom may have returned.

But police say that number will leap by 50 per cent within a year, despite the recent deaths of up to 30 British jihadis in the fighting.

A child's bike was the only thing visible in the garden of the property, which neighbours said is occupied by a young family

The searches were the latest in a series of raids carried out by anti-terror police around the South East

Britain's top policeman, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said this week that at least five Britons a week are heading to the war-ravaged country to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists.

Sir Bernard said: 'Those numbers are a minimum. There may be many more who set out to travel to another country and meandered over to Syria and Iraq in a way that is not always possible to spot when you have failed states and leaky borders.'

As many as 60 of the Britons who have travelled to the region are thought to be women offering themselves as so-called 'jihadi brides' to those fighting Western and local forces.

The women are thought to be travelling through Turkey before they are married off to extremists they have met through the internet.

Mia Bloom, from the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies in the US, said: 'ISIS is recruiting these women in order to be baby factories. They are seeing the establishment of an Islamic state and now they need to populate the state.'

Scotland Yard said the two arrests, that of a woman this morning and a man later today, are not linked

It is believed around 500 Britons may have travelled to Syria to join ISIS fighters like those pictured in Raqqa

Last week, a number of terror suspects were charged with plotting to kill policemen and soldiers in London drive-by shootings.

Tarik Hassane, 21, Suhaib Majeed, 20, Nyall Hamlett, 24, and Momen Motasim, 21, all from London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court amid tight security as they were charged with an Islamic State-inspired gun plot.

It was alleged to have been formulated in response to a fatwa by a senior ISIS terrorist.

Earlier this month, two houses in Portsmouth - including the family home of Ifthekar Jaman, a British man who died in Syria - were among properties raided by counter-terrorism police.

Officers from the South East Counter Terrorism Unit (Sectu) have been granted extra time to question two men aged 26 and 23, from Portsmouth, a 23-year-old woman from Farnborough and a 29-year-old woman from Greenwich who were arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.

Their detention is now authorised until October 28.

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