LONDON, Sept 2: British police arrested 14 people in raids in London overnight on Saturday on suspicion of planning acts of terrorism and began searches at a number of properties, including an Islamic school.

The suspects were detained “on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism” in what London’s Metropolitan Police called a “pre-planned, intelligence-led operation” in south London.

According to the BBC, 12 of the suspects were detained at a halal Chinese restaurant, The Bridge to China Town, in the Borough area, which is popular with the local Muslim community.

It is situated above a Persian restaurant, the Iran-e-Ma, which is also thought to have been searched.

Of the two other men, one was arrested in east London while the location of the last was not specified, the broadcaster added.

Scotland Yard was quick to point out that the arrests — which came when the restaurant was packed with diners — were not connected to the July 7, 2005 suicide attacks in London.

Nor was it linked to a massive counter-terrorism operation on Aug 10 that saw more than two dozen people arrested over an alleged aircraft bomb plot and led to unprecedented security measures at airports around the world, they said.

At the same time, police in Manchester said two people had been arrested there under the Terrorism Act 2000 at 6am on Saturday and that these arrests were not connected to events in the British capital.

The latest arrests came after it was revealed in an interview recorded in July and to be broadcast on Sunday that the head of the Met Police’s Anti-Terrorist Branch said thousands of British Muslims were under surveillance. Peter Clarke said the security services were concerned by the links between British citizens of Pakistani descent and militants.—AFP