Four arrested in Britain over Syria terrorist offenses

British police say they have arrested four people, among them a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offenses.

West Midlands Police said on Tuesday that 45-year-old Moazzam Begg, who was held in the US-run military prison in Cuba for nearly three years, was arrested by officers in Birmingham’s southern area of Hall Green.

Begg is suspected of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism overseas.

A 36-year-old man, from the Shirley area of Birmingham, and a 44-year-old woman and her 20-year-old son, both from the city’s Sparkhill area, were also arrested on suspicion of facilitating terrorism overseas. Their names were not released.

British police have already arrested over a dozen people on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism this year.

On January 17, West Midlands Police said two 21-year-old men from Handsworth area in Birmingham, identified as Yusuf Sawar and Mohammed Ahmed, were arrested at Heathrow Airport in London on January 13 after arriving back to the United Kingdom on a flight from Turkey. They were charged with travelling to strife-torn Syria for terrorism offenses.

Concern has been mounting in Britain over militants traveling from the country to Syria in order to fight against the Damascus government. Police fear that they may become even more radicalized by other militants before returning home.

The Daily Telegraph reported in early December last year that according to intelligence sources, out of 1,000 Western militants fighting in Syria, more than 300 are British citizens.

The European Union (EU) Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has also warned that EU citizens fighting in Syria pose a serious threat of terror attacks when they return home.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. Over 130,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the unrest.