LONDON: Five people have been arrested in Britain as part of an investigation following the deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels, police said Friday.

Four of the arrests — three men aged 26, 40 and 59 and a 29-year-old woman — were in Birmingham in central England on Thursday, while a 26-year-old man was arrested at London Gatwick Airport on Friday.

“This action forms part of an extensive investigation by West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, together with the wider counter terrorism network, MI5 and international partners including Belgian and French authorities to address any associated threat to the UK following the attacks in Europe,” senior police officer Marcus Beale said in a statement.

He said the arrests aim to address “any associated threat to the UK following the attacks in Europe.”

Police were also searching a number of properties in Birmingham as part of the investigation. They would not elaborate further.

The arrests come only days after Belgian authorities announced they had identified the elusive “man in the hat” spotted alongside the two suicide bombers who blew themselves up March 22 at Brussels Airport, killing 16 people. The suspect, Mohamed Abrini, was also wanted in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead.

One European security official has told The Associated Press that Abrini had made multiple trips to Birmingham last year, meeting with several men suspected of terrorist activity. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide details about the investigation.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted government ministry sources as saying that the arrests were “significant.”

“The arrests were pre-planned and intelligence-led... There was no risk to the public at any time and there is no information to suggest an attack in the UK was being planned,” Beale said, adding that police were searching a number of properties in Birmingham.

Contacted by AFP, a police spokeswoman declined to comment further including on any possible link to attacks in Belgium last month and in France in November in which a total of 162 people were killed.

Belgium’s federal prosecutor’s office also declined to give further details on the investigation.

“The federal prosecution office wishes to emphasise the good collaboration with the British authorities,” it said.

Top Brussels and Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini, who was arrested in Belgium earlier this month, was spotted in Birmingham last July, according to reports.

Abrini has confessed to being the “man in the hat” caught on video with suicide bombers at Brussels airport on March 22 shortly before they detonated their devices.

Abrini is charged with “terrorist murders”.

He is also linked to the Paris massacre after being caught on video at a motorway gas station with top suspect Salah Abdeslam, who is now awaiting extradition from Belgium to France.