Four men have been arrested and bailed on suspicion of being in possession of funds for terrorist purposes, the Metropolitan Police said today.

The arrests were made after a series of raids were carried out across south Wales last Thursday and Friday.

Raids targeted addresses in Pontardawe, Swansea and Powys and involved a number of officers from the force's counter terrorism command.

All four men were taken to a central London police station and have since been released on police bail until late May.

"Two men age 34 and age 45 were arrested at the same commercial premises in Pontardawe," a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said.

"A 38-year-old man was arrested at a residential address in Swansea. A 37-year-old man was arrested at a residential address in Powys."

The men were arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. The alleged offence is under section 16 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The cousin of one of the four men arrested and released by anti-terror police spoke today of his shock at what had happened.

Suleyman Atila, 31, owns Emmas Fast Food in Herbert Street, Pontardawe, where his cousin, of Kurdish origin, was arrested last week.

He named him as Tacim Kasajol, 34, and said he felt certain that he was innocent.

At the time of the arrest he had been showing another Kurdish man around businesses in the town which have Kurdish links, he said.

He said that the second man arrested was from London and connected with the Kurdish Community Centre there.

It sells a number of Kurd-related services including a newspaper which the visitor was promoting to locally-based Kurds, Mr Atila said.

"As a stranger who did not know the area, my cousin was just showing him around," Mr Atila said today.

"It was a shock and a surprise to him and me when he was arrested last week. He was taken to London and then released without being told anything."

He said that after his release his cousin had to make his own way back to Wales.

He returned at the end of last week and is now back working in the takeaway.

Mr Atila, who is single, added that his cousin was living in London until one month ago, when he invited him to Pontardawe to work at his outlet.

He added that he had known his cousin all of his life.