New Scotland Yard
A man has been arrested in south London accused of Islamist terrorism Getty

Counter terrorism officers from the Metropolitan Police have arrested a suspected Muslim extremist accused of plotting Islamist terrorism. The 31-year-old man was detained at a business address in south London on 22 December.

A Met statement read: "Officers from the MPS Counter Terrorism Command [SO15] arrested a 31-year-old man on Tuesday, 22 December, under the Terrorism Act (TACT), on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

"The man was detained by officers at a business address in south London at 17.03hrs. He was taken to a central London police station and remains in custody at this time. Officers are searching a residential address in south London. The arrest is being linked to extremist Islamist terrorism." Enquiries are continuing.

The arrest comes after the Home Office revealed there were a record number of terrorism-related arrests in England, Scotland and Wales in the year to September. There were 315 arrests with the number of female terror suspects more than doubling. The ministry said the overall figure was up by a third when compared to September 2014 and arrests of females had surged from 21 to 50.

"The majority of the increase in the number of women getting arrested has been linked to international-related terrorism," the report said.

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