Large part of Manchester attack network detained, police say
Large part of Manchester attack network detained, police say, Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer, Mark Rowley, said on Friday that while there were still important lines of inquiry to pursue and further arrests were likely, the public should “go out as you planned and enjoy yourselves” over the bank holiday weekend.
“We have already got a large part of the network, including some very significant arrests and some significant finds,” Rowley said. “Clearly, we haven’t covered all the territory we want to but we have covered a large part of it so our confidence has been increasing in recent days. But there’s still more to do to get the degree of confidence we want.”
Rowley refused to directly answer questions about whether the bomb-maker was believed to be among the eight suspects in custody or whether the bomb factory had been found, but repeatedly lauded the progress made by officers.
He said police needed a little more time to close down the remaining gaps in the investigation. “We need to grow our confidence that we’ve got every component of the network and we have got as full an understanding as possible as to how the device was constructed and whether there is any more remaining risk.”
He said he would not expect the critical threat level to remain in place beyond a few weeks.
Police have reviewed security at more than 1,300 events across the country. Extra armed police will patrol the FA Cup final at Wembley and the rugby premiership final at Twickenham, and 50% more firearms officers have been deployed on the streets.
In a sign that detectives believe they have significant individuals in custody, Rowley said charges against suspects were likely, and “there will be trials”.
The briefing came after Greater Manchester police made another arrest and raided three more properties on Friday. Eight suspects, all men aged between 18 and 38, remain in custody.
The investigation into whether a network supported Abedi’s suicide attack has so far involved raids at 12 addresses in the UK, including Manchester, Wigan, Nuneaton and St Helens. Libyan authorities have also arrested Abedi’s father, Ramadam, and younger brother Hashem, 20.
Friday’s raids were carrid out at the Fade Away barbershop in Moss Side said to have been frequented by Abedi; a pizza takeaway in St Helens formerly run by a man who is said to have rented a north Manchester flat to Abedi earlier this year; and a terraced house in Moss Side where a 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences.
The security minister Ben Wallace said earlier on Friday: “We are trying to roll up a network. This is not a lone individual.”
He described the investigation as “still very live, it is still very hot”.
NHS England said 66 of the 116 people injured in the attack were still being treated across eight hospitals, 23 of them in critical care.
Speaking to the Guardian, the owner of a hardware shop on Princess Road, Byron Gibbs, said he had seen Salman Abedi at the Fade Away barbershop that was raided. “I recognised him in the photos,” he said. “He spends time with the people. I’ve seen him walk past the shop window lots of times. He was heading towards the barber’s next door.
“I was shocked to see his face on television. It’s been a long time since I saw him last.”
The shopkeeper, 79, said no one had been in the barber shop since at least Tuesday and it had since been closed.
Gibbs described the owners as Muslim men of Middle Eastern appearance.
There was a police cordon in place around four properties at the site on Friday morning: a hardware store, a pharmacy and a cafe, as well as the barber’s.
Mohamed Elhudarey said that until two weeks ago he had run the raided Lorenzo Pizza restaurant in Corporation Street, St Helens, with his friend Aimen Elwafi. Elhudarey claimed that Elwafi, 38, rented a flat in Blackley to Abedi.
Originally from Libya, Elhudarey said Elwafi handed himself in to police to help with inquiries on Wednesday night when he saw Abedi’s photograph on TV. “He made the connection straight away … He was shocked and panicked when he saw the news.” Greater Manchester police said on Friday that a 38-year-old man was arrested in Blackley on Thursday.
Elhudarey says his friend thought there was something odd going on in the flat and suspected Abedi may have been smoking drugs, but it never occurred to him that he could be making a bomb. He said Abedi left the flat in a hurry after about six weeks, around March, telling Elwafi he needed to fly to Libya and leaving behind many of his belongings.
Elhudarey had been looking after his friend’s seven-year-old son since he went into custody and had sought advice from a lawyer on his behalf, he said.
Manchester has continued with plans to host a large athletics event in the centre of the city that is expected to become a focal point for solidarity. Thousands of spectators were expected on Friday afternoon for the Great City Games, which will have an increased security presence .
A 200-metre running track was set up on Deansgate, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, which leads towards the bomb site. Albert Square, the site of Tuesday’s vigil for the victims, had been turned into a temporary pole vaulting and long jumping arena.
The Olympic long jump gold medallist Greg Rutherford, who will take part in the games, said: “After such a tragic and heinous event, I think it’s important that everybody comes together and shows it’s not going to stop people leading a normal life.”
In London, the Metropolitan police said armoured vehicles would be deployed at Saturday’s FA Cup final at Wembley alongside armed officers on foot patrol. Armed officers would also be present at the rugby premiership final at Twickenham, also on Saturday.
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, chaired another meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee on Friday morning. She said the UK threat level would remain at critical, but added: “We must not let this terrible terrorist incident impact on our lives. Let’s carry on this weekend, this bank holiday weekend, with our families and friends.”
As general election campaigning resumed on Friday, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said he would put more police on the streets and give extra resources to security services if needed. He also pledged a foreign policy that “reduces rather than increases the threat to this country”.
Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that it was a “grave mistake” by the coalition government to remove control orders. In 2011, the then home secretary, Theresa May, announced control orders would be replaced by less restrictive terrorism prevention and investigation measures (Tpims).
