Two men were arrested when police investigated the burning of ambulances in the UK – National
British police arrested two men on Wednesday in connection with the burning of four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity, an attack authorities are investigating as a hate crime.
The Metropolitan Police said the two men, aged 45 and 47, were arrested in London on suspicion of destroying people’s lives with the intention of endangering their lives and both were taken to the police station in the city for questioning.
Police are searching two locations in north London, a few kilometers from where the incident happened in Golders Green.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the arrests marked a “significant breakthrough in the investigation.”
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But he noted that the surveillance cameras of the incident showed that there were three people involved.
Police have not declared the incident a terrorist attack, but are investigating a claim by a group with possible ties to Iran.
The fire that broke out early on Monday in Golders Green, which is an area of London with a large Jewish population, burned four ambulances belonging to the volunteer organization Hatzola Northwest. The oxygen cylinders in the vehicles exploded, shattering the windows of a nearby apartment.
A look at burnt ambulances at Golders Green car park in London, Monday, March 23, 2026, after an apparent arson attack on four vehicles of the Jewish ambulance service, Hatzola Northwest.
AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali
Also eroded was the society’s fragile sense of security, which had been plagued by years of war in the Middle East and crimes of hatred and violence against Jews.
The Metropolitan Police force has stepped up security at Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers ahead of Passover next month, including what the force says are “highly visible gun patrols.”
The United Kingdom has accused Iran of using criminal proxies to attack European soil targeting dissident media and the Jewish community.
Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 says more than 20 potentially dangerous Iranian-sponsored programs were disrupted in the year to last October.
Police are investigating a claim posted on social media by a group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.
The Israeli government has described it as a newly formed group with alleged links to pro-Iranian networks that it has identified as being responsible for attacks on synagogues in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley said detectives are investigating the claim but it is too early to say whether the attack is due to the country of Iran.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
