Four men who allegedly swore an allegiance to extremist group Islamic State (IS) have been charged with plotting a terror attack in London, Scotland Yard said.
Tarik Hassane, 21, Suhaib Majeed, 20, Nyall Hamlett, 24, and Momen Motasim, 21, have all been charged with intending to commit acts of terrorism.
A fifth man, Nathan Cuffy, 25, has been charged with firearms offences.
Details of the charges, provided by the Metropolitan Police, allege that the four men conducted "hostile reconnaissance" of Shepherd's Bush police station and White City Territorial Army Barracks and took an oath of allegiance to IS.
All five men live at addresses in London and will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court today.
The offences allegedly took place between July 8 and October 7.
Further details of the charges allege the four terror suspects set up methods of secret communications and entered into covert discussions.
It is alleged the men sourced a firearm, moped and an extract of the "fatwa of Al Adnani" as part of the plot.
The four men allegedly viewed and retained an image sent via Instagram of two Metropolitan Police officers and two Metropolitan Police community support officers.
It is also alleged they possessed jihadist material, including articles with graphic images of the beheading of Steven Sotloff.
A sixth man, aged 20, who was arrested on October 7 as part of the investigation, was released this morning due to a lack of evidence, and a 19-year-old woman held over a gun charge and allegedly perverting the course of justice was bailed until next week.
News of the charges came as Britain's counter-terrorism chief warned officers are grappling with "exceptionally high" numbers of investigations.
Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said hundreds of suspected terrorists have been arrested so far this year, and that police are taking down more than 1,000 pieces of extremist material from the internet per week.
Mr Rowley said: "So far this year we have made 218 arrests and are running exceptionally high numbers of counter-terrorism investigations, the likes of which we have not seen for several years. Against an increasing operational tempo we are disrupting several attack plots a year."
The suspects arrived at court under heavy police guard including two vans, a helicopter and several cars.