The Metropolitan Police has allegedly foiled a plot to assassinate British prime minister Theresa May.
Sky News reported on Tuesday, citing sources, that the police had foiled a plot to assassinate May. The report said police believed there was a plan to launch an improvised explosive device at Downing Street and, in the chaos that ensued, attack and kill May.
File image of British prime minister Theresa May. AP
Earlier on Tuesday, May’s spokesman said Britain had thwarted nine plots in the last 12 months.
The Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that two men arrested last week had been charged with terrorism offenses and would appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. It also said in a statement that the men were arrested by its Counter-Terrorism Command on 28 November.
It identified them as Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, of North London, and Mohammed Aqib Imran, 21, of south-east Birmingham.
According to The Telegraph, details of the alleged terror plot were given to Cabinet members on Tuesday during a briefing by MI5 chief Andrew Parker.
The report also said that between March and June, there had been four terror attacks in London and Manchester which killed 36 people and injured another 200.
The details of the latest plot emerged as a report into the terror attacks in Britain between March and June was released, according to The Guardian. The report also showed that MI5 could have stopped the Manchester terror attack with the intelligence they had.
Many security officials have claimed that Britain is facing a heightened terror threat and the MI5 director-general has even said that the threat is the worst he has known in his 34-year-long career.
With inputs from Reuters
Published Date: Dec 06, 2017 09:42 am | Updated Date: Dec 06, 2017 09:42 am