Four alleged members of the National Action neo-Nazi group have been arrested on suspicion on preparing acts of terror.

The group was listed as a proscribed organisation by the UK home office last December, after a number of organisations, including the Community Security Trust, urged the Home Secretary to ban it.

MoD: four alleged members of 'National Action' who were arrested on suspicion of preparing acts of terror are serving members of the Army

— Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) September 5, 2017

National Action members have previously threatened British Jews. Garron Helm, a National Action Merseyside member, was jailed last year for sending antisemitic messages to Luciana Berger, Britain's youngest Jewish MP, in February 2015.

Another member of the group, Jack Renshaw, was reported to the police last year by the CST for antisemitic comments he made in several of his speeches.

In one speech, Mr Renshaw said: "Hitler was right in many senses - but you know where he was wrong? As nationalists we need to learn from the mistakes of the National Socialists and we need to realise, you do not show the Jew mercy."

In a second, he said Britain took the "wrong side" in the Second World War by fighting the Nazis "who were there to remove Jewry from Europe once and for all".

The four men were arrested this morning in Birmingham, Powys, Ipswich and Northampton.

The police released a statement confirming that “the arrests were carried out with West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit in conjunction with the Wales Extremism Counter Terrorism Unit and the East Midlands CTIU.

 “A number of properties are being searched in connection with the arrests. The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led; there was no threat to the public’s safety.”