UK cops arrest 4 in Iran spying probe

British police arrested four men Friday on suspicion of aiding Iranian intelligence services.

The Metropolitan Police said the four had been detained as part of a counter-terror investigation, and were suspected of surveilling ‘‘locations and individuals linked to the Jewish community in the London area.’’

They have been arrested under Britain’s National Security Act, which covers conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service. ‘‘The country to which the investigation relates is Iran,’’ the force said.

The men include one Iranian and three dual British-Iranian nationals. They were arrested in the early hours of Friday morning at addresses in Barnet and Watford ‘‘as part of a pre-planned operation,’’ the Met said.

The Met’s head of counter-terrorism policing in London, Helen Flanagan, said the arrests were ‘‘part of a long-running investigation and part of our ongoing work to disrupt malign activity where we suspect it.’’

‘‘We understand the public may be concerned, in particular the Jewish community, and as always, I would ask them to remain vigilant and if they see or hear anything that concerns them, then to contact us,’’ she added.

The arrests come amid heightened vigilance in the U.K. over the possibility of Iranian reprisals after the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran, setting off a broader conflict across the Middle East.

Source: Politico 
--Agencies