Another story I saw earlier and BBC Television says the smoke from the detonator starting to go off is what caused it to be noticed. If the ambulance crew who had been answering a separate call across the street hadn’t noticed it, it would probably have gone off.
My wife is visiting London right now. I know, I know, it’s a big city, etc. But waking up to the news anchor saying, “Possible terrorist threat underway in London right now” is not how I wanted to start my day.
Kudos to the authorities who have managed to stay ahead of the game thus far.
Woohoo! I recognized PC from previous photos even though it’s shot from a different position as the others. Oh, and there’s a distinct lack of people that made ID a bit harder too
At least people didn’t get shot in the head this time.
Geez, my sister is moving to London at the end of July. She’ll be living not terribly far from where all this is going on. This really is going to freak her out.
Given the level of stupidity that terrorists have shown in their attempts at killing lots of folks, I’d be willing to bet that arrests will be made very shortly. Both cars are said to be Mercedes, so while they’re running the VINs, I’m sure Scotlard Yard’s got detectives talking to folks at Mercedes dealerships and repair shops.
Odds are they picked Mercedes for a reason. The most likely reasons are:
1.) Familiarity with the vehicle
2.) Easy access
The twits who did the Spanish bombings got the cellphones they used as remote detonators from their buddy who owned a cellphone store. If they did a “random boost” of cars, then you’d expect the two of them to be different. I don’t know about your side of the pond, but over here 'Cedes dealers are pretty exclusive operations. Either way, tracking these guys is going to be fairly easy, I’d be willing to bet.
Still, the fact that there were two of them (no matter how old) narrows the search down considerably. Instead of new dealers, they’ll be checking used dealers and garages specializing in Mercedes.
Just seen the LFB’s ‘scientific unit’ go hurtling past accompanied by ambulance and tons of coppers. I am guessing that sunny NW London is the source of the problem. Again. Sigh.
It’s rather unbelievable, but over here there are Westerners who are STILL saying it’s all a mistake and the owners of the cars are being victimized. They think refusing to believe even the possibilty of the authorities getting it right makes them “cool”. Thailand attracts some real wackos.
Compared to PIRA they are definitely “special needs”.
The thing that makes them dangerous, purely imo, is that they don’t value their own lives and they don’t worry about outraging their supporters (because their supporters believe all targets are legitimate).