Justice statue
Alex Nash has been charged with stealing a passport after he was arrested on suspicion of terror offences Getty

Walsall man Alex Nash has been charged with stealing a passport and other identity documents after he and his girlfriend were arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of terror offences related to Syria.

The 20-year-old and his partner, who is 19, were detained at 10.30pm on Tuesday after they disembarked a flight from Turkish city Istanbul.

Nash, who is unemployed and has no fixed abode, was remanded in custody for the alleged thefts and will appear before Coventry Magistrates Court today.

The charge came after West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit searched two addresses in Walsall, near Birmingham.

Both Nash and his partner were initially kept in custody in the West Midlands area after their arrest but are now on conditional police bail in connection with the alleged terror offences while inquiries continue.

Turkey is seen as the gateway for European jihadists to enter war-torn Syria where terrorist group IS is fighting to install a caliphate.