The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Terror probe cops
Attack: Police believe knifeman acted alone
A 30- year- old man has been arrested in Birmingham by officers investigating the Westminster terror attack.
The man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts.
He was detained under the Terrorism Act (TACT) and is in police custody.
The man is the 12th person to be arrested in connection with the investigation, with nine others being released withnofurther action.
Another man, 58, arrested in Birmingham, remains in police custody after a series of raids across the country.
Officers have carried out a total of 15 searches at various addresses in east London, south London, Brighton, Surrey, Carmarthenshire, Birmingham and Manchester.
Fourteen searches have now concluded, with one continuing in Birmingham. Four people were killed when Islamist extremist Khalid Masood went on an 82-second rampage in Westminster on Wednesday.
Police said they now believe the knifeman acted alone, adding while they were investigating why he carried out the atrocity, that understanding may have died with him.
Masood drove his car along the bridge at speed, mowing down pedestrians. He was shot dead by police after he stormed the parliamentary estate onWednesday afternoon.
Counter-terrorism officers have spent days piecing together what led the 52- year- old to shed his birth name and later unleash carnage on the capital.
On Saturday afternoon o ff ic e r s searched a maisonette in Bredon Croft, Hockley, Birmingham where friends of Masood lived. A family, who live next door, saidMasood used to come wearing Islamic dress and take their neighbours’ children to a mosque although they did not know where.
One of the mothers at nearby Brookfields Primary School said her daughter was best friends with Masood’s, but added: “I always got the chills from him.”
Sabrina Hussain described how she changed her mind about taking her child, nine-year-oldSkye, to Masood’s daughter’s birthday party before Christmas.
Ms Hussain, 28, said: “I thought I was being a bit over-protective, but then I just thought ‘no, I can’t let her go’ and we turned the car around and I made up an excuse saying the party had been cancelled.
“I just didn’t want her to go. There was just something about him that wasn’t right.”