A 17-year-old boy appeared in court Saturday charged with two offences in a probe into hoax calls made to Britain's anti-terror hotline and the release of recorded conversations between staff.

The youth is accused of to cause a public nuisance and an offence under the Computer Misuse Act, a police spokesman said.

The boy from Birmingham, Britain's second city, cannot be named as he is under 18. He was arrested on Thursday.

The hearing was at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London. He was remanded on conditional bail, a court official said, and will next appear at Hammersmith Youth Court in west London on May 25.

The Central e-Crime Unit of Britain's Scotland Yard police headquarters has said it was aware hoaxers had made calls to the hotline and made recordings of their conversations with anti-terrorist hotline staff.

Scotland Yard said Friday that a 16-year-old boy who was also arrested on Thursday had been bailed to return to a police station in the Birmingham area pending further inquiries.

A statement added: "Public reporting is an important part of the fight against terrorism and any attempt to disrupt this service will be investigated thoroughly."

(c) 2012 AFP