Two suspected Hezbollah members were arrested in London on Tuesday over their membership with the proscribed terrorist organization and involvement in preparing terrorist attacks, the Metropolitan Police announced on Thursday.
A 39-year-old man was arrested by the Met Counter Terrorism Command in west London for his involvement with the group, preparation for acts of terrorism, and being involved in the funding of terrorism.
The second man, a 35-year-old from west London, was arrested on suspicion of being a member of the Lebanese organization.
Police conducted searches at five different locations, two in northwest London, west London, southwest London, and in Essex.
The men were released on bail and have a mid-July court date.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) questioned the decision to release the men on bail and to "roam in London" until July. The group called on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to ensure that residents were being adequately protected.
"Hezballah is a proscribed antisemitic genocidal terror group, which seeks the murder of all Jews, and has carried out terrorist attacks against Jews all over the world, from Burgas to Buenos Aires," CAA said on X/Twitter. "In 2015, the authorities discovered a cache of three metric tonnes of Hezballah explosives in London."
The Met Counter Terrorism Command's investigations
The Met said that the investigation was into activity overseas and within the United Kingdom, but emphasized that it did not believe there to be any imminent threat to the public.
Met Counter Terrorism Command head Commander Dominic Murphy said that the investigation was ongoing and hoped that the arrests would demonstrate that law enforcement would take action against terrorist activity.
"Terrorism and terrorists have a global reach and impact and the activities of terrorist groups overseas can harm communities here in the UK as well as causing devastation to those abroad," said Murphy.
Jewish security group Community Security Trust said on social media Tuesday that it had long warned about the global threat that groups like Hezbollah posed.