LONDON, 10 May 2007 — British anti-terrorism police yesterday arrested four people including Hasina Patel, the wife of 7/7 bomber Mohammad Siddique Khan, on suspicion of “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism” related to the attacks on the London transport system in July 2005, which claimed the lives of 52 innocent commuters in addition to the four bombers.
The four are being held at the top security Paddington Green police station in Edgware Road, a stone’s throw away from the station where Khan detonated his bomb killing seven commuters on a District Line train and injuring many others. The four were processed and given a medical check-up, before being allowed to contact a lawyer. The task of questioning them started well into the early evening. Police, under the 2000 Anti-Terrorism Act, have up to 28 days to question the suspects, although they have to apply periodically to a magistrate and then to a district judge to continue holding them.
According to Scotland Yard, “this was a pre-planned, intelligence-led operation involving the Metropolitan Police Counterterrorism Command and the Counterterrorism Units in West Yorkshire and the West Midlands. Armed officers were not used in this operation.”
Police are said to be closing in on the “wider support circle” of the 7/7 bombers, who in addition to Khan, included Shazad Tanweer, Hasib Hussein and Germaine Lindsay. The wider circle are people suspected of encouraging and supporting the four bombers in carrying out the worst act of terrorism perpetrated on British soil to date, after the downing of the Pan Am airplane over Lockerbie in Scotland.
Last month, the first three suspects accused of supporting the 7/7 bombers — Mohammed Shakil, 30; Sadeer Saleem, 26; and Waheed Ali, 23, all of Beeston in Leeds — appeared at the Old Bailey in central London charged with conspiring with the four bombers to cause explosions. The trio was remanded in custody until June 8.
The other three arrested yesterday with Patel are her brother Arshad Patel, 30; Khalid Khaliq, 34; who were arrested in West Yorkshire; and Imran Motala, 22, who was arrested at a students’ residence, Victoria Hall, Selly Oaks, opposite Brimingham University. Motala, however, according to Birmingham University, is not a student there.
