‘Neo-Nazi’ Metropolitan Police officer arrested on suspicion of terror offences

Constable accused of being member of banned terrorist group

A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been arrested on suspicion of neo-Nazi terror offences.

Scotland Yard said the 21-year-old constable was suspected of being a member of a “proscribed organisation linked to right-wing terrorism”.

The officer, who works in frontline policing in London, was arrested on Thursday and remains in custody while his home is searched.

A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said: “Officers from the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards have been informed and the officer’s status is at present under review.

“The matter has also been referred to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) as a mandatory referral.

“Whilst the investigation remains ongoing, at this time there is nothing to suggest there is any threat to wider public safety in relation to this matter.”

National Action, a neo-Nazi terrorist group, became the first far-right organisation to be banned by the British government since the Second World War in 2016.

The government has since proscribed spin-off groups Scottish Dawn, NS131, Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) and System Resistance Network (SRN).

The last two organisations were banned last week, making membership a criminal offence.

While the ban treats SRN as an “alternative name” for National Action, SKD has been listed as a splinter group.

“The group has encouraged and glorified acts of terrorism via its posts and images,” a government document says.

“This includes an image depicting the Duke of Sussex being shot as part of their campaign against ‘race traitors’ following his marriage to the Duchess of Sussex; and homemade propaganda using Nazi imagery calling for attacks on minorities.”

Priti Patel, the home secretary, said the proscription would “make it much harder for them to spread their hateful rhetoric”.

“Recent attacks here and in Germany have highlighted the threat we continue to face from violent extremism,” she said.

The arrest came as official statistics showed that the number of white terror suspects detained in the UK outstripped those of Asian appearance for the second year in a row.

Home Office figures showed that 117 white people were arrested on suspicion of terror offences in 2019, compared with 111 Asian suspects and 21 black suspects.

The data reflects increased police operations against far-right extremists, including members of National Action.

The chief officer of counter-terrorist police declared in September that right-wing extremism was the fastest-growing terror threat in the UK, and intelligence agencies have been brought in to tackle it for the first time.

A total of 25 attack plots have been foiled since March 2017 – 16 Islamist, eight far-right and one other.