This morning, British police raided a home near London’s Olympic Park in what they labeled a “pre-planned anti-terror operation.”
AP has the story:
A total of six people were arrested there and in separate raids in other parts of the capital, but Scotland Yard said the operation was not linked to the upcoming games, due to kick off on July 27.
Police didn't identify the suspects, who range in age from 18 to 30.
However Mizanur Rahman, who is involved with a Muslim activist group, said all those arrested were British Muslims. He said the three men taken into custody in Stratford, the neighborhood that contains Olympic Park, were brothers and claimed that one was a former police officer.
A police press officer declined to comment on the claim.
Resident John Smallshaw said a raid took place at a residence on Abbey Road, only about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Olympic Park.
While this incident wasn’t specifically targeting the upcoming games, intelligence officials have the terror threat level at “substantial,” according to the story, which means that there is a strong possibility of an attack.
Intelligence officials say there has been an expected increase in chatter among extremist groups ahead of the games, but there are still no specific or credible threats targeting the Olympics.
In March, The Telegraph reported that extremists posted instructions on a website detailing how to launch an attack at the games through a cyanide poison hand cream.
The newspaper said they were able to access the website, which has 17,000 members worldwide and known links to six al-Qaeda terrorists, using a false identity.
Commenting on the plot and the threat at the games, conservative MP Bernard Jenkin said:
“Those who believe there is no terrorist threat are living in cloud cuckoo land.