A man arrested by armed police in Whitehall has been charged with preparing terrorist acts.



Prosecutors announced that Khalid Mohammed Omar Ali, 27, of north London, would face a total of three counts, including two alleged explosives offences related to Afghanistan five years ago.

A major alert was sparked on 27 April after a man was wrestled to the ground and arrested by armed officers metres from the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street. Since then counter-terrorism detectives have been investigating why he was in the Whitehall area.

He was alleged to have been carrying two knives in a bag that spilled out into the middle of the road as he was grabbed by police and forced to the ground.

Police said he was was arrested after being stopped and searched and that it was the result of an ongoing operation.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Crown Prosecution Service said Ali had been charged with the preparation of terrorists acts “on or before 27 April 2017”.

The CPS said he had also been charged with two terrorism offences related to Afghanistan.

These charges alleged that “on or before 28 January 2012 [Ali] unlawfully and maliciously made or had in his possession or under his control a quantity of explosive substances with intent by means thereof to endanger life or cause serious injury to property or to enable any other person to do so”.

A further count alleges the same offence on or before 6 July 2012, again in Afghanistan.

Ali is a British national, and his family live in Enfield, north London.

After the arrest of a man in April, the Metropolitan police said he had been detained “on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism”.

He was tackled in an area full of high-profile buildings and tourists.

The man was pinned to the ground after his arrest at 2.22pm on 27 April, with armed officers standing over him.

The arrest at the junction of Parliament Street and Parliament Square took place just metres from where Khalid Masood drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in March, killing three people, and then used a knife to stab a police officer to death. Masood was then killed by a single shot fired by a police marksman.

The arrest in April led to a series of searches by police and Ali was held and questioned at Southwark police station in south London.

The full charge details as issued by the CPS alleges that Ali “on or before 27 April 2017 with the intention of committing acts of terrorism engaged in conduct in preparation for giving effect to that intention.”

The CPS said Ali was scheduled to appear on remand at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday 10 May.

The terrorism threat level for the UK remains at severe, meaning an attack by those motivated by the Islamist ideology is assessed as being highly likely.