Two men appear in court on terror charges in Britain

LONDON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- Two men charged with terrorism offences, following a raid by counter-terrorism cops on addresses in northern England, made their first appearance before magistrates in London Friday.

The men, Farhad Salah, 22, of Sheffield and Andi Sami Star, 31, of Chesterfield, were remanded in custody by Westminster magistrates. The court heard they were accused of preparing bomb ingredients for an attack in Britain.

Prosecutor Thomas Halpin told the court it was being alleged that the pair had been in the early stages of a plot at the time of their arrests.

Star's lawyer said there was no evidence that his client was involved in terrorism, telling the court he had been making his own fireworks for New Year's Eve.

Both were accused of engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism, as per section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

They were among four men arrested on Dec. 19 after an investigation by counter terrorism police in North East and Britain's interior intelligence service MI5.

West Yorkshire Police said a 36-year-old man from Burngreave in Sheffield remains in police custody for questioning, while the fourth man, aged 41, and also from Sheffield has been released without charge.

The swoop by armed counter-terrorism police led to a number of properties being searched, and experts from an army bomb disposal unit being called in to detonate material discovered at one of the searched properties in Chesterfield. Enditem