Rumours that a gang rape which took place at Bluewater shopping centre last month was perpetrated by Muslims have been categorically denied by Kent Police, who say they have arrested 11 white British men and are not looking for any other suspects.
News broke earlier this week that a young woman had last month been subjected to a three-hour long gang-rape ordeal at the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. The woman is said to have been bundled into a van while waiting for a bus and sexually abused by seven men.
Kent Police confirmed that they had arrested eleven men in connection with the serious crime, later releasing one without charge and bailing the others, but were reluctant to release any details about the men, saying only that they were between the ages of 16 and 22, and from Kent.
Their reticence on the matter led to widespread rumours that the men involved were Muslim, but Kent Police have now categorically denied that to be the case, telling Breitbart London: “investigating officers can confirm that all the 11 men who were arrested are white, English.”
They have also revealed that the attack took place on Mothers’ Day, between 7:00 and 8:30pm, and that the men who were released have been bailed until May 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th.
Kent Police have also released a further statement, confirming: “11 arrests have been made in connection with the investigation.
“All those arrested are men, aged between 16 – 22 years-old from Kent, and have been released on bail with conditions while inquiries continue.
“One suspect has already been released without charge. Inquiries are very much ongoing to establish the circumstances and no charges have been made.”
In a bid to quell public fears that the men might strike again they added:
“This is being treated as an isolated incident, and there are no other incidents that are being linked to this offence.
“We appreciate the public concern in relation to this incident but would like to reassure members of the public that we have made arrests, at this stage we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the case and a full investigation by our major crime team is underway.
“Work to gather evidence continues, but if anyone has any information that they have not brought to our attention we would encourage them to do so.”
Bluewater has confirmed that the site of the attack is covered by CCTV and patrolled by security videos, but Kent Police have told KentOnline that releasing footage of the attack is unnecessary as they are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the attack.
“CCTV images of a vehicle or suspects were not published because through our inquiries we quickly identified the suspects that we wanted to locate and arrests were made promptly.
“When we release images as part of a public appeal it is to help us identify people but in this case we had already identified who we needed to speak to,” their spokesman said.