They named the man as 33-year-old Magdy Mahmoud Nashar and said he had been arrested “late last night” and “is being interrogated to see whether he is indeed the one everybody is talking about as being involved in the London bombings.”

They said Nashar was nabbed in the Cairo’s southern suburb of Maadi, in the popular neighbourhood of Bassatin.

British police said on Friday they were “aware” of an arrest in Egypt in connection with the investigation into last week’s London bombings.

“We are aware of an arrest made in Cairo but are not prepared to discuss if we may or may not wish to interview (the person) in connection with this investigation,” a spokeswoman for London’s Metropolitan Police told AFP.

“This remains a fast-moving investigation with a number of lines of inquiry, some of which may have an international dimension.”—AFP