Eight people have been arrested by counter terrorism officers investigating a series of arson attacks and alleged conspiracies targeting the Jewish community in London, with seven of the arrests carried out within the past 48 hours as part of an active proactive investigation.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that the seven arrests relate to an alleged conspiracy to commit arson, with officers stating they believe the intended targets are connected to the Jewish community, though the precise nature of the planned attacks has not yet been established.
The first arrests came on Sunday evening, when three men aged 24, 25 and 26 were detained in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, shortly after 9pm. All three were taken into custody and have since been released on bail. The following day, on Monday, a 25-year-old man was arrested in Stevenage. Separately, a 26-year-old man and two women aged 50 and 59 were detained together in a vehicle near Birmingham. Those four individuals were transported to a London police station where they remain in custody.
An eighth arrest was made this morning at an address in Ealing, in connection with a separate but related line of inquiry following the discovery of jars containing a non-hazardous substance in Kensington Gardens on Friday 17 April.
The arrests come amid a deeply unsettling period for Jewish communities across the capital. Over recent weeks, a series of arson attacks have been carried out against Jewish sites in north and north-west London, including attacks on synagogues in Kenton, Finchley and Hendon, as well as a firebombing in Golders Green in March in which four Hatzola volunteer ambulances were set alight outside a synagogue, causing gas canisters inside the vehicles to explode. Three men have already been charged in connection with that earlier incident.
The scale and pace of the latest operation signals a significant escalation in the police response to what community leaders have described as an unprecedented and co-ordinated campaign of violence against Jewish institutions. Counter Terrorism Policing London is leading the investigation and has urged anyone with relevant information to come forward.
No further details regarding the suspects or the specific targets of the alleged conspiracy have been released at this stage. The investigation is ongoing.
