LONDON: A 26-year-old man, said to be of Bangladeshi origin, was today charged with a terror offence for injuring three police officers with a sword outside the Buckingham Palace last week, Scotland Yard said.
Mohiussunnath Choudhury, from Luton in England, has been charged with engaging in the preparation to commit an act or acts of terrorism on August 25.
"Choudhury was charged on Thursday, August 31 with an offence contrary to Section 5(1) of the Terrorism Act 2006 namely, on or before 25 August 2017 engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to his intention to commit an act or acts of terrorism," the Metropolitan Police said.
Choudhury, believed to be of Bangladeshi origin, had been caught with a four-foot sword shouting "Allahu Akbar" near Queen Elizabeth II's London residence.
Three police officers had been injured in the course of the attack.
Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command had earlier revealed details of the attack, which took place at approximately 20:35 hrs on August 25 when a man stopped his blue Toyota Prius car in a restricted area near a police vehicle on the Mall roundabout near Spur Road.
Officers at the Mall spotted a large bladed weapon in his vehicle and went to arrest him.
During the course of detaining the man, three male police officers suffered minor injuries to their arm. Two of the injured officers were taken to hospital for treatment and have since been discharged.
The suspect was taken to a London hospital for treatment of minor injuries and has now been taken to a central London police station for questioning.
"I would like to pay tribute to the bravery and professionalism of these officers who quickly brought this incident under control. Their vigilance, courage and the swiftness of their response demonstrates how our officers are protecting the public at this time," Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, had said.
"We believe the man was acting alone and we are not looking for other suspects at this stage. While we cannot speculate on what the man was intending to do – this will be determined during the course of the investigation – it is only right that we investigate this as a terrorist incident at this time," Haydon had said.
Another 30-year-old man was detained on suspicion of terrorism offences a few days later at an address in west London in connection with the palace attack. No further information has been released on that arrest.
Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family were not in the Buckingham Palace at the time. The 91-year-old monarch was at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and other senior members of the royal family were also away during the summer holiday season in the UK.