Three British men have been accused of plotting to decapitate a member of the public in the street , a court in London heard Thursday . British prosecutors said the men were inspired by a speech from the terror group ISIS , which called for attacks on `` disbelievers . '' Nadir Sayed , 21 ; Yousaf Syed , 19 , and Haseeb Hamayoon , 27 , were charged Thursday with preparing acts of terrorism , according to London 's Metropolitan Police . Prosecutor Rebecca Munday claimed the men planned to behead a member of the public with knives . `` These are serious charges , the evidence of which has been set out in a lengthy case summary , '' Munday told the court . `` In relation to that this appears to be an incident where there was an attack planned in the United Kingdom which seemed imminent . '' The suspects were arrested in and around London on November 6 in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday -- when Britain marks the end of World War I -- along with a fourth man who was later released without charge . Armed police -- who are rarely deployed in the United Kingdom -- took part in three of the four arrests , though no shots were fired , police said at the time . The accused had been held in custody for two weeks -- the maximum time allowed under UK anti-terror laws before suspects must be charged . There 's been a marked increase in the number of people taken into custody recently under Britain 's Terrorism Act 2000 . Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said last month that counter-terrorism officers were `` running exceptionally high numbers of counter-terrorism investigations , the likes of which we have not seen for several years . '' In the year up to October 17 , there had been 218 terror-related arrests , he said , adding that officers are disrupting `` several attack plots a year . '' Many of the most recent terrorism-related arrests have been in London , the nation 's capital and the site of deadly coordinated 2005 suicide attacks , as well as the 2013 public slaying of British soldier Lee Rigby -- who was hit with a car and then attacked with knives by two men who were later found guilty of his murder and imprisoned for life . The UK government raised its terror threat level from `` substantial '' to `` severe '' -- the fourth-highest of five levels -- in late August in response to ISIS militants ' surge in Iraq and Syria and their threats against the West . At the time , UK Home Secretary Theresa May said `` that means that a terrorist attack is highly likely , but there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent . '' None of the men in court Thursday entered a plea . They are next due to appear at London 's Central Criminal Court on December 4 .
Three British men were charged Thursday with preparing acts of terrorism . They tell London court the men were inspired by terrorists to behead members of Parliament . The men were arrested in and around London on November 6 .