Hunt is on for suitcase
Footage shows killer with item
POLICE were last night searching for a large blue suitcase amid fears Manchester bomber Salman Abedi had a second device.
CCTV footage released yesterday showed the killer pushing the wheeled case hours before the attack on concert-goers at the city’s arena.
Detectives urged anyone who spotted the item to call the emergency number immediately because it might contain hazardous substances or critical evidence.
In the footage, Abedi wears what appeared to be the same baseball cap and trainers he wore as he carried out his act of mass murder eight days ago, although he had a lighter pair of jeans and what might be a different jacket.
Police also cordoned off and began searching a rubbish tip in Pilsworth, Bury, yesterday while armed officers made a further arrest, leading a man from a bus in Rusholme, Manchester.
Searches were carried out at a further address in the district believed to be rented by four students.
The number of arrests in connection with the Islamic State-linked terror plot has now risen to 16. Last night, 14 of those detained remained in custody, while two were released without charge.
Meanwhile, families of the 22 bomb blast victims were taken privately to the scene of the atrocity last night in what Greater Manchester Police described as “an essential part of the grieving process”.
The pictures of Abedi with the case were taken both in the city centre and on Wilmslow Road, a few kilometres to the south.
Police said the item was not taken by the bomber to the arena and officers are appealing for information about its whereabouts – with the public warned not to approach it.
Detective Chief Superintendent Russ Jackson, of the North West Counter Terrorism Unit, said: “We know he visited the Wilmslow Road area of Manchester and was also seen in Manchester city centre with the blue suitcase.”
Jackson said it was believed Abedi, who used a rucksack to take his bomb to the arena, was in possession of the case in the days before the attack.
Earlier, separate CCTV footage emerged of Abedi casually shopping for groceries just hours before heading to the Manchester Arena where he detonated his bomb, killing 22 people – including seven children – at an Ariana Grande concert.
The 22-year-old looked relaxed as he browsed the shelves in a convenience store close to a central Manchester flat he used as a safe house. The short clip shows him wandering around the branch of Spar, where staff recognised him from several previous visits.
His receipt showed he ran up a £8.74 (R145) bill purchasing almonds, tuna, cleaning products and two aerosol air fresheners.
The footage captures Abedi on the Sunday morning before the concert attack. He is wearing the same distinctive bulky, black and white £300 trainers he wore in his final hours and a similar black jacket.
His face is largely covered by a heavy hood and his glasses can be briefly seen.
Other known movements of the bomber, who was staying in a rented flat, include a shopping trip around the city centre on the Friday before the attack.
CCTV footage showed him entering a shop where he is understood to have picked up fruit. It came after he went to a branch of a discount retailer to buy the rucksack in which he would detonate his bomb. – Daily Mail