Man held with knives near Parliament charged with terror offences

A 27-year-old man arrested with knives near the Parliament and Downing Street in London last month has been charged with preparing terrorist acts, Scotland Yard has said.

Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali, who was arrested on Parliament Street on April 27, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court today.

Omar Ali, from north London, was also charged with two counts of making or having explosives, the Metropolitan Police said.

Those two charges, under the Explosive Substances Act, relate to alleged activity in Afghanistan in 2012.

Knives were recovered from the scene after his arrest, which followed a stop and search as part of an ongoing operation.

Omar Ali is believed to be a UK national who was born overseas.

A major alert was sparked on April 27 after Omar Ali, carrying two knives in a bag spilled out into the middle of the road as he was grabbed by police and forced to the ground.

Police said he was was arrested after being stopped and searched and that it was the result of an ongoing operation.

After his arrest, the Metropolitan police said he had been detained "on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism".

The arrest at the junction of Parliament Street and Parliament Square took place just metres from where Khalid Masood drove into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in March, killing three people, and then used a knife to stab a police officer to death. Masood was then killed by a single shot fired by a police marksman.

The terrorism threat level for the UK remains at severe. Attacks motivated by the Islamist ideology is assessed to be high