A Leytonstone resident was arrested in relation to the Golders Green Hatzalah ambulances arson on Thursday, the Metropolitan police announced on Friday, reportedly the ninth arrest in relation to the attack that sparked a wave of arson attacks against London Jewish, Israeli, and Iranian dissident sites.
The 48 year-old man was taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson, following the March 23 incident in which four Jewish emergency service ambulances were set ablaze.
“The attack on the Hatzalah ambulances caused considerable community concern and we have been working continuously to investigate this incident,” Counter Terrorism Policing London head Commander Helen Flanagan said in a press statement. “Our aim is to arrest and charge all those responsible for the arson attacks and other incidents targeted at Jewish, Israeli and Iranian sites in recent weeks.”
The Met said that the newest arrest brought the total of people arrested in relation to the wave of attacks to 31. Eight had been charged, and one had been convicted for the arson attempt against the Kenton Synagogue.
Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, and a 17-year-old boy were charged for the ambulance arson on April 3, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. Eighteen year old Dagenham resident Judex Atshatshi was charged for the incident on April 17.
A Portsmouth man was arrested Thursday for involvement in the Finchley Reform Synagogue arson attempt, making him the third to have been arrested in relation to the April 15 incident. The Met said Friday that he was bailed until July.
The same day as the Finchley synagogue attack, suspected arsonists threw a burning container into the carpark of the news outlet Iran International, but the fire died out on its own.
A building that once was the premises of a Jewish group, still with the organization’s name on the window, was the target of an arson attempt on April 17. Three bottles containing accelerants were placed next to a building and set alight. The bottles failed to fully ignite, but minor damage was caused to the shopfront. The same day a burning container was thrown into the carpark of Iran International’s office. On April 19, the Kenton United Synagogue was firebombed, causing minor smoke damage to a room, but no injuries. Last Monday, arsonists set a fire at the Golders Green memorial wall for Iranian protesters. On Tuesday, a former synagogue in east London was targeted in an arson, but it caused little damage.
Most of the attacks were claimed by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, with the most high profile being the Golder Green stabbing attack last Wednesday, in which a 45 year old Somali born terrorist wounded two people before being subdued by police and Jewish neighborhood watch volunteers.