Police raid homes as London terror attack suspect quizzed
POLICE were last night searching three addresses in the Midlands after a suspected terror attack at the Houses of Parliament.
A 29-year-old man, who is a UK national, was arrested on suspicion of preparing an act of terror after the silver Ford Fiesta he was driving collided with cyclists and pedestrians before crashing into a security barrier just before 7.40am yesterday.
Detectives believe the privately-owned car was driven from Birmingham late on Monday night, arriving in London just after midnight.
Scotland Yard said the vehicle was driven around the Westminster area from around 6am — more than an hour-and-a-half before the crash — having been in the Tottenham Court Road area between 1.25am to 5.55am.
Counter- t errorism officers were carrying out searches at two addresses in Birmingham and a residential property in Nottingham as part of the probe.
Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism head Neil Basu said the suspect, who is being held in custody at a south London police station, was not co-operating.
“Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident and the investigation is being led by officers from the counter-terrorism command,” he said.
“We have not formally identified him yet. On the details we have at the moment, we don’t believe this individual was known to MI5 or counter-terror police.”
The silver car can be seen driving along the road next to Parliament Square before turning right towards Westminster Abbey in footage aired on BBC News.
As an ambulance passed the car on its right-hand side, the vehicle swerved left, crossing oncoming traffic and colliding with cyclists before entering a road and hitting a security barrier. A police officer can be seen jumping another barrier that runs along the road to get away.
Images posted to social media showed a man wearing a black puffer jacket being led away in handcuffs from the car as armed police swarmed the scene. There was nobody else in the vehicle
A man is detained by police outside the Houses of Parliament. Right: bicycles which were damaged during the incident
and no weapons were found. Mr Basu added no other suspects have been identified and there is “no intelligence at this time of further danger”.
Two people were taken to hospital, while a third person with minor injuries was assessed at the scene, the London Ambu-
lance Service said. One was discharged from St Thomas’ Hospital before midday, while a woman was treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries at St Mary’s Hospital and has also been discharged.
After a meeting of the Government’s emergency Cobra com-
mittee, Prime Minister Theresa May praised the “formidable courage” and professionalism of the emergency services who “ran towards” danger.
She said: “The threat to the United Kingdom from terrorism remains severe. I would urge the public to remain vigilant but also
to come together and carry on as normal, just as they did after the sickening attacks in Manchester and London last year.”
US President Donald Trump tweeted: “These a n i ma l s are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!”
Wi t n e s s e s d e s c r i b e d a n emotionless driver ploughing through cyclists in what appeared to be a deliberate act.
Kirsty Moseley, of Brixton, south London, was a passenger in the first car behind the cyclists, who “were thrown everywhere” after being struck at what she estimated was 25mph.
“I heard a few shouts, looked up and this silver car was driving at high speed the wrong way into the cyclists,” the 31-year-old told the Press Association. “It’s absolutely amazing there was only one cyclist seriously injured.”
Parliament is surrounded by steel and concrete security barriers. The measures were extended in the wake of the Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017 when Khalid Masood ploughed a car into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing four people.
Masood then stabbed and killed unarmed PC Keith Palmer before he was shot by police.