Three men have been arrested by anti-terrorist police as they got off a plane at Gatwick.

The men, believed to be Algerians, were detained under anti-terrorism legislation, police have confirmed.

Immigration officials at Gatwick held the men, aged 28, 29 and 30 at about 2pm on Thursday while they were 'in transit'.

They were stopped by immigration officials as they arrived in the UK to catch a connecting flight.

Officers from Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch and their colleagues at Sussex Police then arrested the men.

It is understood the arrests are not being linked to the recent arrests in north London, where traces of the poison ricin was found in a flat, and Manchester, where a Special Branch officer was stabbed to death.

The three men are being held under the Terrorism Act 2000 at an unnamed police station in central London.