Six people, including a former police community support officer and a white Muslim convert, were arrested in a series of raids yesterday in connection with a suspected terrorist plot against potential targets in Britain.

Three brothers aged 18, 24 and 26 were arrested about a mile from the main Olympics site in east London but police said the planned operation was not linked to the Games or the Paralympics.

Two other men and a woman were arrested in west London. According to reports, one of the men was a white Muslim convert who has appeared in a YouTube video railing against Britain\'s role in Afghanistan and the royal family. Last year the same man named in reports appeared on a BBC documentary called My Brother The Islamist.

The 24-year-old was shot with a Taser at Abbey Road, Stratford, but did not need any hospital treatment, Scotland Yard said.

One of the brothers had been a police community support officer for more than two years until he resigned in September 2009.

"He was not deployed in a specialist or sensitive role," said a Scotland Yard spokeswoman.

Neighbours said the family had been living there for more than a year.

A blue police tent covered the door of the house yesterday.

Stephen Maguire (23), who witnessed the operation from his bedroom, said: "I heard the biggest bang and I saw a cloud of smoke and torches going up at the windows," he said. "It sounded like gunshots but they weren\'t."

The 29-year-old man was arrested in a street in Ealing, west London, and another man, aged 21, and a woman of 30 were arrested at homes nearby.

Searches under the Terrorism Act were being carried out at eight homes around the city and at a business premise in east London. All those arrested were being questioned at a police station in southeast London.

Factfile

The threat to the UK from international terrorism is currently rated substantial the third highest of five levels. The rating is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre. Police declined to give details on any suspected targets before the intelligence-led operation yesterday but said that an attack was not imminent.

Courtesy:  Bel Fast Tele Graph