Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command has arrested 12 people, including two women, for the Sunday night attack on Lt. Gen. Kuldip Singh Brar (Retd) in central London.
Lt. Gen. Brar, who led Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple in 1984, described the attack as an assassination attempt by Khalistani extremists, but the Metropolitan Police refused to reveal details about the suspects held since Thursday.
“The attack may have caused concern among our Indian and Sikh communities. We are aware there has been a great deal of speculation about possible motivation for this attack, but it will not be helpful to our investigation to comment further at this stage,” the police said.
Scotland Yard said its detectives had an open mind on the motive, and the investigation will go where the evidence leads.
Britain’s foreign office minister Hugo Swire said on Thursday evening that the attack was “extremely regretful” and “shocking”. He said attacks like this were “totally unacceptable” on the streets of London.
Scotland Yard is also conducting searches at a house in South Shields, near Newcastle, a house in Birmingham and two residences in London.
The police made a breakthrough with the arrest of a 33-year-old man and 40-year-old woman in Wolverhampton at around 5 pm Thursday evening. These were followed by the arrests of two more men, aged 34 and 25, after a car was stopped on Heath Lane in West Bromwich in West Midlands. All four were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.
The counter-terrorism command officials arrested eight more people from various parts of London early Friday. Three more men were arrested on immigration matters unrelated to the attempted murder investigation. At present, 12 people are in police custody for the attempt to murder Gen. Brar, and three men are in custody for immigration issues.
A 42-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and a 38-year-old woman held on suspicion of conspiracy to murder at 12.30 am Friday from a house in London’s Hillingdon borough.
All 12 suspects are being held in different London police stations and are being questioned. No one has been charged as yet.