According to British media reports, the arrested took part in an extremism prevention program. According to the BBC, the 25-year-old was referred to the prevention project “Prevent” a few years ago. Under observation of the domestic secret service MI5 he was not confessed.
Hundreds of people remembered the conservative politician who was killed in a knife attack in his constituency in the English county of Essex with a vigil with lights on Saturday evening. Amess was stabbed to death on Friday during a public consultation in the rooms of a Methodist church in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea.
A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder immediately after the crime and is now being held on suspicion of terrorism. The police assume that he acted alone. As Scotland Yard announced, three house searches took place in the London area in connection with the case.
“Islamist Extremism”
The arrested person is reportedly a British man of Somali origin. According to the police, initial investigations had shown “a possible motivation in connection with Islamist extremism”. His father, a former advisor to the Somali prime minister, was “traumatized” by the crime.
