[Ricardo Nunes]

LONDON (Reuters) - Police have arrested firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri on an extradition warrant from the United States, a spokeswoman says.

British media reported that U.S. authorities planned to bring terrorism-related charges against the cleric who has urged Holy War and openly admires Osama bin Laden.

The cleric, who has one eye and a steel hook in place of his right hand after being wounded fighting in Afghanistan, was stripped of British nationality a year ago because of allegations he supported terrorism.

Last month he won nine more months to appeal to keep his citizenship. He denies any formal links to al Qaeda.

He became the first person to have his British citizenship revoked after new measures were brought in last year to deport immigrants whose words or actions are deemed to "seriously prejudice" British interests.

"We arrested a 47-year-old man at about three o'clock this morning," the police spokeswoman said.

He was due to appear at the high-security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in London later on Thursday.

A friend of the cleric, Hani el-Sebaie who runs the London-based al-Maqreezi Centre for Historical Studies, told Reuters in Cairo by telephone that police took his family to a nearby hotel in London as they searched his home in West London.

"Anti-terrorism police raided the house of Abu Hamza al-Masri this morning and took him away," Sebaie said.

Abu Hamza, whose son served prison time in Yemen on terrorism charges, is no stranger to controversy.

After moving to Britain years ago and working as a doorman at London discos, he moved to Afghanistan in the 1980s to help the Mujahideen fight Soviet occupation troops.

He lost both his forearms and an eye to an explosive device in the conflict. But he kept embracing radical Islam and preached it in London mosques after returning in the 1990s.

He was shut out of his north London Finsbury Park mosque when it was raided by anti-terrorism police in January 2003 so he switched to preaching on the street outside.

When he was not blasting the United States and calling for the overthrow of Arab leaders, he spent his time answering emails on the Internet or organising conferences for Muslims in secret locations across Britain.

He openly described bin Laden, suspected mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, as a hero.

He has lashed out at Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he has described as a warmonger against Islam.

The cleric denies any formal links to al Qaeda but has admitted ties to figures such as James Ujaama, arrested in the United States on suspicion of trying to set up a training camp for the group.

He has accused the police of tapping his telephone and questioning his friends.

Finalmente.