4 Birmingham-based men arrested over 'trip to Pak terrorist training camp'

Four Birmingham-based men have been arrested on suspicion of travelling to Pakistan to undertake terrorist training and of raising funds for terrorist purposes.

According to the Daily Mail, they were arrested under the Terrorism Act as part of a major ongoing investigation.

Officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit detained the men at their homes in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham in the early hours of the morning.

A police spokesperson said the suspects, aged between 19 and 24, had been arrested as part of Operation Pitsford, a large-scale inquiry which has already seen eight other people charged with a variety of offences.

“Today's arrests were pre-planned and not made in response to any immediate threat to public safety,” the spokesperson said.

Officers were unarmed during the raids, he added, and detectives have an initial 48 hours to question the suspects before charging, releasing or applying for a warrant of further detention.