Three men, including two serving British soldiers, appeared in court on Tuesday morning accused of being members of a banned neo-Nazi group.
All three were charged with being members of National Action, which was banned by home secretary Amber Rudd in December last year. It is the first far-right group to become a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK since 1940.
The men are among a group of five people arrested as part of a pre-planned West Midlands police operation on 5 September. Two men were subsequently released without charge.
Part of a police convoy arriving at Westminster Magistrates' Court. Three men will appear later accused of being me… https://t.co/izPhtyriKv
The men facing charges include Private Mark Barrett, 24, who is based at the army's Dhekelia Garrison in Cyprus. He is charged with being a member of a proscribed terrorist group.
Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, 32, who is based at the Sennybridge army training base in Brecon, Wales, is charged with possessing a document likely to be useful to someone preparing an act of terrorism, two counts of stirring up racial hatred through writing comments on a website, possession of pepper spray, and being a member of a proscribed terrorist group.
Alexander Deakin, 22, from Birmingham, is charged with two counts of possessing documents likely to be useful in the preparation of a terrorist act; the distribution of a terrorist publication; one count of inciting racial hatred, for allegedly posting National Action stickers around Aston University in Birmingham in July 2016; and being a member of a proscribed terrorist group.
All three are due to appear at the Old Bailey in London on 21 September.