LONDON, May 16: Hasina Patel, the widow of one of the 7/7 London bombers, and two others of the four arrested last week in connection with the 2005 train bombings in which 52 people had died were released without being charged on Tuesday night.
A fourth man, Khalid Khaliq, 34, remains in custody after police were granted a warrant to detain him for further questioning until May 21. The two men released are Ms Patel’s brother Arshad and Imran Motala.
The four were arrested in a series of anti-terror raids last Wednesday, during which properties in West Yorkshire and the West Midlands were searched.
All four, held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, were taken to the high-security Paddington Green police station in London for questioning.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: “Three people, arrested on May 9 in connection with the terrorist attacks in London on July 7, 2005, have been released without charge.
“A 30-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman, both arrested in West Yorkshire, and a 22-year-old man, arrested in the West Midlands, were released from a central London police station this evening
“In all operations some people may be released early without charge while others may remain in custody for further investigation. This is not unusual and is to be expected in large and complex criminal investigations.”
The raids were led by the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism unit, with support from West Midlands and West Yorkshire police.
Properties in Dewsbury, Batley, Beeston in south Leeds, and Birmingham were subject to forensic investigation.
The solicitor of Hasina Patel, told media that he was shocked and outraged at the way his client was arrested in the full glare of publicity and kept in pretty awful conditions at Paddington Green station.
“She’s quite clearly innocent of anything, because she’s been released by police having trawled through her life and possessions and caused her a tremendous amount of grief.
“To arrest her in these circumstances, a woman who lost her husband, who has been accused of the most atrocious events to take place in this country, has now spent seven days in isolation in Paddington Green – I wonder what she must be feeling.
“More importantly those in her community are incredibly angry at the way this case has been approached.
“In my view, if their intention in this case was to destroy what relations they had with the Muslim community, then they have done that.”
