POLICE IN LONDON investigating the violent murder of Lee Rigby on Tuesday have arrested three further suspects.
Detectives from the Counter Terrorism Command and specialist firearms officers were involved in the operation which saw the three men, aged 21, 24 and 28, detained yesterday evening between 6pm and 6.30pm on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
The 24-year-old and 28-year-old were arrested at a residential address in southeast London. The third suspect was arrested in the street at Charlton Lane, SE7. A Taser gun was used on two of the men but they did not require medical treatment in hospital.
Police are currently searching four addresses in the area.
There have now been six arrests in relation to the killing of the 25-year-old in Woolwich. Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 remain under armed guard in hospital after being shot by police at the scene. They are said to be in a stable condition.
The 29-year-old questioned after giving an interview to BBC News on Friday has been bailed to return pending further enquiries.
The Metropolitan Police Service has asked anyone who filmed or took photos as events unfolded on John Wilson Street to send it to them. They also advised witnesses not to delete any footage or material they may have.
Reports in the UK today carry images of Adebolajo in court in the Kenyan city of Mombasa in November 2010. The Mail on Sunday claimed he had been detained with others on suspicion of planning to fight for a terror group. The men were thought to have been heading to Somalia to join the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents. MI5 has been criticised for missing key clues about the killers. It has also been suggested that the intelligence agency tried to recruit the killer to spy for them.
Increased attacks
As London comes to terms with the vicious and brutal killing outside the Royal Artillery Barracks, an inter-faith group has reported a large spike in anti-Muslim incidents.
“It’s a hugely worrying development,” director Fiyaz Mughal told AFP, saying the organisation had been informed of 162 incidents in the past 48 hours, compared to a daily average of four to six.
They were mainly verbal attacks on women wearing the Islamic headscarf in the street, he said, but there were also online attacks and some violence.
A number of people have been charged over malicious comments made on social networking sites.
-Additional reporting by AFP
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