London (PTI): Former radical Islamist Hassan Butt, who claimed that he had helped 200 British Muslims train for jihad, was arrested on terrorism charge at Manchester airport, police said.

"Our counter-terrorism unit arrested one person under the Terrorism Act. Officers are currently searching three addresses. No armed officers were involved in the arrest on Friday," a spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said without identifying Butt's identity.

Twenty-seven-year-old Butt has gained notoriety for his inflammatory comments claiming that "he had recruited the jihadis to fight in Afghanistan" but he later retracted his statements.

In an interview with Prospect magazine in August 2005, the second generation British Pakistani had said he would be honoured to be called a terrorist. He had told the magazine: "I would agree to being called a radical and one day I may even be called a terrorist, if Allah permits me. That is something which would be an honour."

He had cautioned that thousands of young Muslims were preparing to unleash fresh 'terror' on Britain's streets. Following the 2007 Glasgow airport attack, he alleged on BBC2's Newsnight that "most Muslims believed terrorism give them an admission to paradise" and that "anything that is not an Islamic way of life is a legitimate target".