Anti-terrorism police were today questioning a couple about travelling to Syria to commit acts of terrorism after they were held at Heathrow.
The man and a woman, both aged 26, were being interviewed about an incident in which a British press photographer was kidnapped and held at gunpoint by British jihadists.
The pair were held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism after their flight from Egypt touched down at 8.30 last night. The arrests are the first in connection with an investigation into travel to Syria in support of alleged terrorist activity. Police refused to give the nationality of the arrested couple but they are said to live in east London.
Detectives are understood to be focusing on the man’s activities in Syria. One line of inquiry is his possible involvement in an incident in July when a group of jihadists kidnapped Sunday Times photographer John Cantlie. He and a colleague were freed by Free Syrian Army fighters after being held at an Islamist training camp in north-western Syria.
Both men were shot trying to escape and their injuries were treated by a British-born trainee doctor brandishing an AK-47 who was on leave from his medical training in London. They described how they were threatened with execution by a group including several radical Muslims from Britain.
Since then it has been claimed that as many as 50 British men have travelled to Syria to fight alongside rebels and terrorist groups in the uprising against president Bashar Assad.
The arrested couple were being questioned at the high-security Paddington Green police station today.
Sources say the police inquiry is focusing on links with jihadist groups in Syria rather then volunteers fighting for the rebel army. Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command are also searching two addresses in east London under the Terrorism Act in connection with the arrests.
Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking to the BBC, said the Government was aware of Britons going to Syria to fight. “That’s not something we recommend, and we do not want British people taking part in violent situations anywhere,” he said.
Scotland Yard said: “The arrests form part of an investigation into travel to Syria in support of alleged terrorist activity. Inquiries are continuing.”
According to UN estimates more than 20,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March last year.
