18-year-old arrested in London tube attack, terrorist threat level remains critical

British police made a “significant” arrest in the urgent search for suspects a day after the London underground explosion that injured more than two dozen people, authorities said on 16 September.

Police said an 18-year-old man was arrested by Kent police in Dover harbor on the English Channel. He is being interrogated under the Terrorism Act. Dover is an important ferry port for travel between Great Britain and France.

“We have made a major arrest in our investigation this morning,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Neil Basu. But he warned that the investigation continues and that the level of terrorist threat remains “critical,” meaning that a government working group that includes security services believes another attack is imminent. Mr. Basu’s comments suggested that other dangerous suspects could still be released.

The 18-year-old suspect has not been charged or identified. Police say he will be taken to a South London police station for further questioning. Police have not said whether he is suspected of planting the bomb or if he played a supporting role in a possible plot.

Authorities had raised the level of terrorist threat to “criticism” in late September 15, after a bomb partially exploded during the rush hour of the morning.
Police are working on closed-circuit television images and have carefully studied the remains of the device without giving details about it. But the images from inside the subway car after the blast showed that the device was contained in a cube with cables hanging from it and that it was hidden in a plastic bag.

The train struck by the bomber at Parsons Green station in south-west London had video cameras in every car, and the London Underground network has thousands of cameras at entrances to stations and along the labyrinth of underground corridors and subways leading from the entrance to the trains.

Officials have hinted that there may be more than one person involved, but have not revealed details in what is termed an ongoing and covert investigation.

Prime Minister Theresa May said raising the threat level to its highest point was a “proportionate and sensitive step.” The police called the public to be vigilant. Soldiers will add to the armed police presence on Sept. 16 in public places to deter attacks after the blast of the rush hour of the morning of September 15 on a district train. No arrests have been made. The explosion and the subsequent stampede in the station wounded 29 people. None of the injuries, some of them burns, are believed to be life-threatening.

The bomb exploded around 8:20 am local time on September 15 when the train, which carried passengers from the suburbs, including many school children, was at Parsons Green station.

The station was reopened on 16 September, officials said, restoring some normality to London’s transport network after a day of serious upheaval. There was no sign of panic among Londoners and the weekend life of the city remained indifferent to the high level of threat.
Officials said the bomb was intended to cause serious damage to travelers. Analysts said the injuries would have been much worse if the entire device had exploded.

“They were very lucky with this. It could have really gotten much worse,” said terrorism specialist Magnus Ranstorp of the Swedish Defense University.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was carried out by an affiliated unit.

Britain has suffered four more attacks this year, which have killed a total of 36 people. The other attacks in London near Parliament, on the London Bridge and near a mosque in Finsbury Park, north of London, used vehicles and knives.

In addition, a suicide bomber struck a crowded concert hall in Manchester in the north of England, killing 22 people. That attack in May 2017 also briefly caused the threat level to be set to “critical.”