Seven more terror arrests as police find 'weapons hidden in car' just a day after Olympic round-up that saw white Muslim convert captured

• One man from West Yorkshire and six from West Midlands are detained
  
• Arrests followed 'routine stop' of a vehicle on M1 last Saturday
• Car was impounded on suspicion of having no insurance
• 'Firearms, offensive weapons and other material' found hidden inside
• News of arrests comes day after six people, including white Muslim convert, were detained over alleged plan to carry out a major terrorist attack
  

By Graham Smith for MailOnline and Stephen Wright for the Daily Mail and Chris Greenwood for the Daily Mail

Published: 06:52 EDT, 6 July 2012 | Updated: 10:43 EDT, 6 July 2012

Seven men have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after firearms and other weapons were found 'hidden' in a car.

One man from West Yorkshire and six from the West Midlands are being questioned on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism following a series of arrests this week, police said today.

News of the arrests comes a day after six people, including a white Muslim convert, were detained over an alleged plan to carry out a major terrorist attack, possibly during the Olympics.

Police insist the 13 arrests in the last two days do not involve threats to the Games, set to begin in three weeks, and that there is nothing to suggest that two sets of arrests are linked to each other.

But the counter-terror sweeps - and a false alarm yesterday that involved a bus filled with passengers - have raised anxiety in the run-up to the games.

Arrested: British Muslim convert Richard Dart spent two years working for the Met Police. He was one of six people detained by police across London yesterday

Held: Three men have been charged with terrorism offences after a police operation in which firearms were found in a car stopped by police on the M1

A West Midlands police spokesman said that officers found material including firearms following a routine stop on the M1 in South Yorkshire last weekend.

He said: 'The arrests followed a routine stop of a vehicle by police between J33 and 34 on the southbound side of the M1 motorway in South Yorkshire on Saturday. The car was impounded on suspicion of having no insurance.

'Firearms, offensive weapons and other material were later found hidden inside, prompting police to take action to trace and arrest the driver, passenger and others suspected of being involved.

There were two firearms recovered. They are not automatic. They were not loaded and there was also a small amount of ammunition.'

Police said three men aged 23, 26 and 27 from Sparkhill, Birmingham, were arrested on Tuesday morning.

Three more suspects, a 22-year-old from Alum Rock, Birmingham, a 24-year-old from the Moseley area of the city, and a 22-year-old from Smethwick, West Midlands, were arrested on Wednesday evening.

A 43-year old man from Kirklees, West Yorkshire, was detained yesterday in Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury.

Detective Chief Superintendent Kenny Bell, head of the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, said: 'As soon as the items were discovered in the impounded vehicle, our priority was to protect the public by pursuing and arresting those we believed to be involved.'

Police said the contents of the car were undergoing forensic analysis and the suspects' homes had been searched.

Detectives have been given extra time to question the three men arrested on Tuesday, after the initial 48-hour detention period ran out. They now have until next Tuesday morning to charge or release the men, or apply for a further warrant.

All seven men are being held in the West Midlands.

Terror raid: A home raided by Metropolitan Police officers in Stratford, east London, one mile from the Olympic Park just three weeks before the Games

Search: A police forensics officer works inside the premises looking for clues

The arrests come a day after a white Muslim convert who once worked as a BBC security guard was among six people arrested over an alleged plan to cause an atrocity in the UK.

Also among those detained was a former police community support officer, who was arrested at a home just half a mile from the Olympic Stadium.

In April last year Richard Dart, using the name Salahuddin Al Britani, appeared in an internet video uploaded by a Muslim group vowing to disrupt the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Elswhere, Jahangir Alom, 26, who spent two years working for the Metropolitan Police, was also detained.

The former police community support officer, dubbed 'Blunkett Bobbies' because they were introduced when David Blunkett was Home Secretary, and his two younger brothers were arrested at 4am at their family home half a mile from the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.

The remaining two were a woman aged 30 and man of 21, who were arrested at separate homes in West London yesterday, on suspicion of being part of the terrorist plot.

Last night, the suspects' alleged targets were unclear, as was how it is alleged they planned to strike.

But security sources described the arrests 'as very significant' and counter-terrorism chiefs are convinced they have thwarted a major attack.

A policeman searches the garden of the East Stratford house while others stand guard at the front of the property

A neighbour caught the moment anti-terror police raided the house near the Olympic park

Officers can be seen in SAS-style outfits during the raid which happened at 4am

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman Steve Field today insisted there was no sense of alarm at the spate of arrests so close to the start of the Summer Games. 

He said: 'We have been looking at the issue of security at the Olympics for some time and we have robust plans in place.'

Yesterday's developments followed months of surveillance and a recent, worrying increase in intelligence 'chatter', prompting fears of an attack to coincide with the Olympics and Paralympics.

It is not thought that the suspects were intending to target Games' venues or spectators.

But detectives fear Islamic radicals will try to maximise publicity with an attack – anywhere in Britain – during the next two months.

Jahangir Alom and his brothers Moybur Alom, 18, and Alomgir Alom, 24, were arrested at the semi-detached council home they share with their mother in Abbey Road, Stratford, East London.

One of the men was Tasered as dozens of armed officers threw 'flash bang' grenades and stormed into their family home. Neighbours screamed as police dressed in black paramilitary-style clothing smashed down doors and smoke poured from the windows.

One said: 'I asked one police officer what was going on and he said it was an Olympic exercise.'

All three brothers are British nationals from a large Bangladeshi family and attended the local Rokerby High School.

Their father, Sheikh Alkas Ali, a chef, is understood to have returned to Bangladesh, where he and his wife were both born.

The arrested men's brother-in-law Salim Ahmed said they had once been acquaintances of radical preacher Anjem Choudary. Jahangir also appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, My Brother The Islamist, in which he drove several men to a meeting at a mosque in Leeds.

Jahangir spent two years working as a Metropolitan Police community support officer in East London, before leaving the force in May 2009.

Smashed: A broken door which is thought to have been battered down by police as they arrested three people in Stratford

The scene in Abbey Road, Stratford, East London, just half a mile from the Olympic site

In a nine-minute interview posted on YouTube, Jahangir – using the name Abu Khalid – said he once harboured ambitions to become a chief inspector but later quit the police.

His arrest was part of a London-wide terrorist operation that saw Dart detained in the street and a man and woman held at their home in Ealing, West London.

Dart is a Muslim convert who criticised Britain on TV while claiming benefits to live rent-free. He also appeared in the documentary My Brother The Islamist, alongside Jahangir Alom.

A total of eight homes across London were being searched last night as officers looked for evidence of a plot.

Scotland Yard said five men and one woman were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000.

'Public safety remains our overriding concern. Today's operation in London is not linked to the Olympic and Paralympic games,' a spokesman added.

The suspects can be detained for 14 days before officers must charge or release them.

Britain's terror level is currently ranked as substantial - the third highest point on a five-point scale - and means an attack is a strong possibility.

A spokeswoman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: 'Wanton acts of destruction have no place in Islam - terrorism has no faith.'

Terror alert: Two police officers on duty outside the property in Stratford

Terror threat: During the Games the Olympic Park will be protected by the biggest peacetime security operation ever seen in Britain. The arrests were not linked to the games

Threat: Staff prepare for the Games at the Olympic Park as three terror suspects were arrested just a mile away

VIDEO: Caught on camera. Moment police raided house near Olympic Park yesterday

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