High-profile Muslim convert Richard Dart has been named as one of the six people arrested in a counter-terrorism operation across east and west London, according to Sky News.

This white British 29-year-old from Weymouth, Dorset, converted to Islam in 2009, said sources. He is believed to be a follower of Anjem Choudary of Islam4UK, who urges Britain to adopt public stonings, amputations for criminals and wants to see the flag of Islam over Downing Street.

Dart, of Bow, east London, was renamed "Salahuddin" after the 12th-century Arab warrior who drove King Richard I from Jerusalem during the Crusades.

For years, Dart - the son of teachers - drifted from job to job, working at one point as a security guard at the BBC's Broadcasting House. He drank heavily and did not know what to do with his life, it has been reported. Then he met a member of Choudary's circle while studying carpentry at a west London college.

The meeting changed his life. "I'd already gone off pork," he tells me. "I had my last drink on holiday in Cyprus last year - just one pint. Michael Jackson's death to me was a sign - he said he was a Muslim, but he didn't live the life of a good Muslim."

"Salahuddin" told the Daily Mail in 2009 that he would be happy to fight - and die - for the cause and that Islam had to defeat Western aggression.

Insisting the Koran preaches love, he said: "The soldiers taking part in these wars are the enemies of Islam so I don't support them in any way nor any man-made government or law. These governments are the terrorists.

"I would love to see Sharia law in the UK," he added. "There are a lot of people who need to have fear in their lives. It would bring back standards.

"If there is no fear, people just act on their whims, drinking alcohol and taking drugs and having sex."

Richard Dart came under pressure and was branded a hypocrite after it emerged that he draws welfare benefits off the same state he claims to despise and lives in a luxury neighborhood next to a picturesque canal.

London