Police on Wednesday arrested four men in the central English city of Birmingham under anti-terrorist laws in connection with the investigation into last week’s attempted bombings in London.
A spokesperson for London’s metropolitan police declined to confirm or deny British media reports that one of those arrested was wanted as a suspect in the attempted bombings last Thursday.
”It’s just speculation,” he said.
The spokesperson said that three of those arrested remained in police custody in the West Midlands while one of the four was being brought to a London police station, without saying which one.
Another police spokesperson said earlier that three of the four arrested in Birmingham were seized at one address.
”A suspect package has been found and, as a precautionary measure, evacuation has been undertaken in the vicinity,” the spokesperson said.
”These operations are in connection with the incidents in London on 21st July.”
The spokesperson said officers fired at one man with a Taser gun, a non-lethal weapon that delivers an electric shock.
Britain’s Press Association said one of the men arrested is believed to be one of the four who allegedly tried but failed to blow up three underground trains and a bus in London on Thursday.
In a possibly linked development, two men were arrested on Tuesday night at Grantham railway station under the Prevention of Terrorism Act as they travelled from Newcastle to Kings Cross station in London, Lincolnshire police said.
The arrests were made after information was given by two off-duty officers from London’s metropolitan police who were travelling on the same train. They will be questioned at a Lincolnshire police station later on Wednesday.
”We’re not prepared to discuss whether they’re linked to the London bombings,” a Metropolitan police spokesperson said. – Sapa-AFP