Police arrest 3 men in Newport over London bucket bomb attack

Three more men have been arrested in connection with last week’s attempted bombing of a London Underground train, taking the total being held to five.

An unnamed 25-year-old was held in a counter-terrorism raid in Newport, south Wales, shortly after 7pm local time on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said a building in the city was also being searched.

Two other men, a 48-year-old and a 30-year-old, were arrested in Newport on Wednesday morning.

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Details of failed London bucket bomb emerge as interrogation of suspects goes on

“This continues to be a fast-moving investigation. A significant amount of activity has taken place since the attack on Friday,” commander Dean Haydon, head of the Counter Terrorism Command, said.

“We now have three men in custody, and searches are continuing at four addresses. Detectives are carrying out extensive inquiries to determine the full facts behind the attack.”

Witnesses to the arrest described officers “jumping” a man who was put into a police car and driven away.

Searches continue at four addresses, police say.

Detectives have been granted more time to question the other two suspects.

An unnamed refugee, who is suspected of detonating the improvised explosive device (IED) on a train injuring 30 people last Friday, is believed to be an 18-year-old orphan from Iraq. He was arrested at the port of Dover on Saturday.

It is understood he had previously been referred to  the government’s counter-radicalization program, Prevent.  

A second suspect, Yahyah Farroukh, 21, from Syria, was arrested just hours later outside the chicken shop where he worked in Hounslow, west London.

Relatives of Farroukh have spoken of their shock and disbelief at his arrest. Fatin Farroukh, his sister-in-law, told the Guardian he was a well-adjusted, hard-working young man with hopes of going to university in the UK and becoming a journalist.

“Yahyah has been in Britain for three years, working and studying. If he was planning something bad, why would be bother to study?” she said from her home near Breda in the Netherlands.

Farroukh and the 18-year-old are believed to have spent time in foster care with Penelope and Ronald Jones, who previously made MBEs for their services to children and families.

The suspects remain in custody at a south London police station.

At 8.20 BST on Friday, a homemade bomb, which was transported in a Lidl supermarket bag, partially exploded in a Tube train at Parsons Green station, causing burns to a number of victims.

CCTV footage shows a person leaving the Jones’s house in Sunbury carrying a Lidl bag at 7.04 BST on Friday morning.

The man carrying the shopping bag then took the 7.15 train to Wimbledon, which arrived at 7.46. After leaving the train he spent 20 minutes in the station toilets, before joining the District Line towards central London.

Detectives believe the suspect got off four stops later at Putney Bridge, which is one stop before Parsons Green station where the homemade bomb ignited minutes later.