Police end Terrorism Act searches

A police officer outside one of the raided properties on Tuesday

Police have finished searching eight properties in the West Midlands following a series of raids earlier this week under the Terrorism Act.

Five men, aged 29-35, were arrested in connection with dawn raids in the city on Tuesday.

Police said the men were being held on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

They have warrants to detain the men in custody for up to a week.

Officers from the West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit raided the six homes and two commercial properties, one in Birmingham and the other in Kenilworth, Warwickshire.

A police spokesman said: "All eight properties, which were being searched following the arrest of five men in Birmingham, have now been returned to their occupiers.

"Officers have taken a number of items away for examination."

Shortly after the arrests, police said that they were "not related to any immediate plot or threat to public safety" and that no-one else was being sought in connection with the investigation.

The dawn raids took place in the Sparkhill, Ward End, Hodge Hill, Bordesley Green and Aston areas of the city.