Man, 43, arrested in west London on suspicion of showing support for Hamas

A 43-year-old man has been arrested by the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command over online posts allegedly related to the proscribed terrorist group Hamas.

Following a tip-off, counter-terrorism officers arrested the male in west London on Wednesday, 12 June, on suspicion of showing support to a terrorist organisation, contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act, 2000.

He was taken into custody and officers also carried out a search at an address in west London as part of their investigation.

The matter had been referred to specialist officers in the national Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for initial assessment of the posts and the matter was then passed to detectives within the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command for further investigation.

Commander Dominic Murphy, mead of the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said: “Ever since the terrible attacks in Israel last October, and the subsequent conflict, there has been a significant increase in the amount of extremist and terrorist material being referred to us by the public.

“Each and every referral gets assessed by specialist officers and anything that is considered a potential terrorism offence here in the UK will get passed on for further investigation. From that investigation, if and where we find evidence of a crime being committed, then we’ll look to identify, arrest and bring the person responsible to justice.”

The man was subsequently released from police custody and has been bailed to a date in September, with enquiries ongoing.

Anyone wishing to report extremist or terrorist content can do so online via: www.gov.uk/report-terrorism