Indian woman banker held in anti-terror raid in London

, Jan 30: The United Kingdom police have arrested an Indian-origin woman banker from London as part of an ongoing anti-terrorism operation.

Kuntal Patel,36, an employee of the Barclays Bank in Canary Wharf, was arrested on Sunday and her east London home was raided by the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command.

"Kuntal Patel...has tonight been charged with attempted murder following an investigation by the Counter-terrorism Command. She is due to appear in custody at Westminster magistrates court tomorrow, Thursday, 30 January," the police said in a statement yesterday.

Kuntal the daughter of magistrate Meena Patel, who sits on the bench at Thames Magistrates' Court in east London.
Ron Manley, a local councillor who has known the Patels for more than 20 years, described them as an "upstanding family".

"Meena is a magistrate and used to work for a local authority, Kuntal works in the City and her younger daughter Poonam is a pharmacist. They are a Hindu family and I've known the two girls since they were at primary school. They have always been very polite, very nice girls," he told 'The Daily Telegraph'.

The son of Foreign Office diplomat Nicholas Sutcliffe, James, was also arrested as part of the operation earlier but has been released without charge triggering claims that counter-terror officials may have raided the wrong house. But the search operation at the Patel home remains ongoing. Reports said there were apparent Internet links between Patel and the raided house next to the diplomat's home.

Meanwhile, police said the searches were carried out as a precautionary measure and there was nothing to suggest the public was at risk.

Oneindia News

(With PTI inputs)