Scotland Yard authorities have taken four teens into custody in connection with a suspicious fire at an Islamic boarding school in the London suburb of Chislehurst that forced the evacuation of 128 students and staffers.
The fire is being investigated as an arson, police said in the Hindu Times. It’s believed the fire may have been purposely set in revenge for the grisly street killing of British soldier Lee Rigby.
The teens arrested for the school fire were not named in the report. But two are 17-years-old and two, 18-years-old. And police have increased their presence in the neighborhood of the school, the Hindu Times reported.
“It’s only by luck that the fire attack didn’t prove to be fatal,” Metropolitan Police Cmdr. Simon Letchford said in a BBC report. “Fortunately [it] was identified very quickly.”
The arrests of the teens come just a week after a fire destroyed an Islamic center outside London. Police are still investigating that incident.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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