Terror arrests after armed vehicle stopped on M1 in Yorkshire

West Midlands Police said 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.

A spokesman said: “The arrests followed a routine stop of a vehicle by police on 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.”

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 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.

Meanwhile, a British Muslim convert who appeared in a BBC documentary was reportedly one of six people arrested over a suspected terror plot - including three living just over a mile from the Olympic site.

Richard Dart, 29, who changed his name to Salahuddin al-Britani after converting, was said to have been one of three people detained in Ealing, west London, yesterday morning. He was arrested in the street.

The others detained in Ealing were a 21-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman held at separate home addresses.

Dart appeared in a BBC Three documentary, My Brother The Islamist, made by his stepbrother Robb Leech last year, which told how Dart, originally from Weymouth, Dorset, had been converted by controversial cleric Anjem Choudary.

In the documentary he spoke of his support for jihad and sharia law.