LONDON, April 24: British police arrested six men in pre-dawn anti-terror raids on Tuesday, including radical Muslim Abu Izzadeen, known for calling western leaders “terrorists” and heckling Home Secretary John Reid.

The men, aged between 21 and 35, are suspected of inciting terrorism abroad and raising money for terrorists.

The arrests were in relation to speeches made at a mosque two-and-a-half years ago.

A well-known figure towards the extreme end of British

Muslim opinion, convert Izzadeen repeatedly disrupted a speech by Reid in east London last September, calling him “an enemy of Islam” and “a tyrant”.

“Six men have been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in connection with inciting others to commit acts of terrorism overseas and terrorist fundraising,” a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

“A number of searches are ongoing in connection with the investigation.

“The arrests form part of a long-term pro-active and complex investigation into alleged incitement and radicalisation for the purposes of terrorism, as well as alleged provision of financial support for international terrorism.” The men aged between 21 and 35 were arrested at four addresses in east London, one in Southall, west London, and one in Luton, a town north of the capital. All have significant ethnic South Asian populations.

The men were arrested by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command and local police officers.

They were being held in custody at the high-security Paddington Green police station in central London, Sky News television reported.

The BBC named Rajib Khan as a 28-year-old suspect from Luton.

Izzadeen, a former electrician born in London to a Jamaican family, is said to be a former spokesman for the radical Islamist group Al-Ghurabaa.

Al-Ghurabaa is an offshoot of the now disbanded Al-Muhajiroun led by radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, both of which are now banned in Britain.—AFP