High alert for London transport after suspected bomb found
LONDON -- British police said they arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of a terrorism offense Friday over a suspicious package discovered on a London subway train the previous day.
The Metropolitan Police force said officers used a stun gun while detaining the man on a busy city street. He was being held on suspicion of “the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorism acts.”
North Greenwich subway station was closed for several hours Thursday after the discovery of what police called a “suspicious item” on a train.
The object was destroyed in a controlled explosion. Police said they were waiting for the results of a forensic examination to discover what it contained.
Police say they are not looking for anyone else as part of the investigation and are keeping an open mind about motive.
Britain’s armed forces, however, were warned of a severe terror threat to London’s transport network after the controlled explosion was carried out.
The warning, sent to the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre “has raised the threat level for transport in London to severe: an attack is highly likely. This increase is in response to the discovery of a suspected viable Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on a London Underground train.”
The threat level in Britain more broadly was already at “severe,” meaning an attack is deemed as highly likely, and it was not immediately clear why the armed forces had received a specific warning about London’s transport and the general public had not.