A second arrest has been made following the terror attack near Buckingham Palace Friday night when a Luton man brandishing a four-foot sword attacked three police officers whilst shouting: “Allahu akbar.”
Detectives investigating the terrorist incident near the Queen’s official residence have arrested a 30-year-old man at an address in West London.
He was arrested by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command on suspicion of being involved in the commission, preparation, or instigation of terrorism on Sunday morning and has been taken into custody. Police are searching an address in West London as part of this inquiry.
On Friday night, a 26-year-old from the Luton area deliberately drove at a police van and stopped in front of it in a restricted area on Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace.
When confronted by three unarmed police constables, he reached for a four-foot sword, which was concealed in the front passenger foot well, and “repeatedly shouted Allahu Akbar” during the subsequent struggle, in which the police officers sustained light injuries.
Two required hospital treatment, but have now been discharged. The suspect is still in custody.
The Met confirmed that the incident — which took place on the same night a Somali-origin man with a machete attacked soldiers on the streets of Brussels — is now being treated as terrorism.
The incident in the Belgian capital took place at Émile Jacqmain Avenue, and the terrorist, a 30-year-old Belgian citizen of Somali origin who shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he launched his knife attack, was shot dead by police.
Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the man was known to police for assault charges but had no previous terror-relate offences. The attacker was also carrying a fake firearm and copies of the Quran.
The Islamic State news agency Aamaq has claimed the Brussels attacker was an Islamic State group “soldier”.
Brussels is home to the notorious jihadist hotbed of Molenbeek, and Breitbart London reported on Saturday that Belgian police have had to open almost 200 terror-related cases since the beginning of 2017.