London: Three more persons have been arrested by Scotland Yard in connection with the London Bridge attack carried out by three men including a Pakistani-origin terrorist.
The arrests came ahead of the general election in which about 46 million eligible voters are expected to cast their ballot to choose between Prime Minister Theresa May and Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn under the looming shadow of the two deadly terror attacks that recently rocked the UK. Seventeen people have now been arrested in connection with Saturday’s attack and five remain in custody, the Metropolitan Police said.
“The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, supported by firearms officers, arrested two men on a street in Ilford, east London, a third was arrested after a warrant was carried out at a residential address in Ilford,” the Met Police said.
Of the two men arrested on the street, one aged 27 was arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts and the second aged 33 was arrested for on suspicion of possession with intent to supply controlled drugs. The third 29-year-old man was arrested from the residential address in Ilford on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts.
All three men have been taken into custody at a south London police station under the UK’s Police and Criminal Evidence Act, the Met said. Eight people were killed when three men, Pakistan-born Khurram Shazad Butt, Moroccan-origin Rachid Redouane and Moroccon-Italian Yousef Zaghba, drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in nearby Borough Market.
On Thursday, the Met Police made three further terror-related arrests in London, which the force said were not related to Saturday’s London Bridge attack. “All three were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism offences under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. They have been taken into custody at a south London police station and are detained under the Terrorism Act,” the Metropolitan Police said.
Searches being conducted at the addresses where the men were arrested. The developments came as families of the London Bridge attackers expressed their disgust at the attack in London on June 3.
The relatives of Butt and the ex-wife of Redouane distanced themselves from the extremists, saying the atrocity had left them shocked. Charisse O’Leary, who married Redoaune in Dublin in 2012, said she has “shed many tears for the people caught up in this horrific incident”. “I am deeply shocked, saddened and numbed by the actions of my ex-partner who has killed and injured so many innocent people. We have a beautiful young daughter, that for the last six months has been our only bond and reason for contact. “My thoughts and efforts now are with trying to bring up my daughter with the knowledge that some day I will have to try and explain to her why her father did what he did,” she said.
Butt’s uncle Nasir Dar had earlier condemned his nephew’s actions saying: “I condemn, first of all, this incident, this brutal action. Innocent people are killed in this action”. Their condemnation came as CCTV footage emerged online appearing to show the moment armed police gunned down the three knife-wielding terrorists.
The three terror suspects can be seen rushing at a passing pedestrian near Borough Market, raining down a series of blows while police cars approach and marksmen shoot down the three attackers. (PTI)
