British radical cleric <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2021/10/28/anjem-choudary-turns-to-alternative-social-media-channels-to-preach/" target="_blank">Anjem Choudary</a> has been arrested by police investigating suspected terrorism offences. Police arrested the 56 year old, from East London, on Monday following dawn raids at three properties in the area. A second man, who had just landed in the UK on a flight from Canada, was arrested at Heathrow Airport. The Metropolitan Police said both were being held on suspicion of being members of a banned organisation in contravention of the Terrorism Act 2000. "Counter-terrorism detectives have arrested two men as part of an investigation into suspected terrorism offences," it said in a statement. "The officers arrested a 56-year-old man from East London in the area at approximately 05.40 on Monday. "They arrested a 28-year-old Canadian national at Heathrow Airport at approximately 12.35, after he arrived on a flight from Canada. "Both were arrested on suspicion of membership of a proscribed organisation, contrary to section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The men are currently being held under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, at a West London police station. "Police searches of three addresses in East London are ongoing." Mr Choudary was <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/notorious-uk-hate-preacher-anjem-choudary-freed-from-prison-1.782219">released early from a five-and-a-half-year sentence </a>from HMP Belmarsh in 2018. He had been convicted of encouraging support for ISIS and subjected to more than 20 conditions, which included <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/hate-preacher-returns-to-london-home-1.858090">a ban on public speaking, restricted internet and mobile phone use</a> and a ban on contacting suspected extremists. Those conditions were lifted in 2021, although he was barred from many mainstream social media channels, including Twitter and Facebook. Mr Choudary led the Al Muhajiroun (ALM) network, which inspired terrorists including Usman Khan, who killed two people on London Bridge in 2019. Khan was on licence after being released early from a prison sentence after he was convicted of plotting to bomb the London Stock Exchange. In 2021, ISIS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, who had been radicalised after watching videos featuring Mr Choudary, murdered British MP David Amess. Former ALM members who turned to terrorism include the leader of three attackers who killed eight people at London Bridge in 2017, and Khalid Masood, who murdered five people on Westminster Bridge in the same year. The group’s influence is said to extend beyond Britain. Those connected include Abu Hamza Al Masri, sentenced to life in the US in 2015 for terrorism-related offences. Other ALM members have been linked to terrorist attacks internationally and a quarter of jailed terrorists in the UK have been associated with the proscribed group. Mr Choudary’s influence in Europe has been such that the Dutch intelligence agency Avid accused him of being a prominent ISIS influencer in the Netherlands.
