UK police arrest 6 in neo-Nazi terror group probe

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - British counter-terror forces on Wednesday arrested six suspects for alleged membership of a banned neo-Nazi terror group.

The five men and a woman were suspected of instigating and carrying out terrorism, and being members of National Action, a statement from West Midlands Police said.

The arrests were carried out in an intelligence-led operation, police said.

The men aged 21-28 were held in Cambridge, Banbury, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Stockport. A 37-year-old woman was arrested in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

National Action was proscribed as a terror organization in December 2016.

British counter-terror officers, last year, arrested a number of individuals amid investigations into the banned neo-Nazi group, including serving British soldiers, three of whom were charged with terror offenses.

The anti-Semitic and white supremacist group had celebrated the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox in June 2016 by far-right extremist Thomas Mair.

The group describes itself as a "National Socialist youth organization." However, Home Secretary Amber Rudd described it as “racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic."

“It has absolutely no place in a Britain that works for everyone,” she added.

All six are being held at a police station in the West Midlands and a number of properties are being searched, police said.