“Concerningly, Butt had earlier attempted to hire a 7.5-tonne lorry that same morning. When he did not provide payment details, the rental did not go ahead. The effects could have been even worse.”
It was all about the payment details. No one would have dared question him about why he wanted the truck. That would have been “Islamophobic.”
“London Bridge: more arrests as police tell how terrorists wanted to use truck,” by Vikram Dodd, Guardian, June 10, 2017:
The three terrorists who struck London Bridge last Saturday tried to hire a 7.5-tonne lorry on the morning of the attack to kill even more people and inflict a bigger atrocity on Britain.
Early on Saturday morning police investigating the attack made raids in east London and arrested two more people on suspicion of terror offences, bringing the number being held to seven. A 27-year-old man was detained at a house in Ilford and a 28-year-old man at a house in Barking.
Five other people were already in custody as detectives and MI5 investigate if anyone assisted the London Bridge terrorists or had knowledge of their plans go run people over and go on a stabbing rampage. Eight people were killed and 48 wounded in the attack.
The van they used was hired by the ringleader, named by police as Khuram Butt. Police believe the intended atrocity was on a similar scale to that in Nice, France, in August 2016 when a truck drove into a crowd and left 86 people dead.
The attempted truck hire failed only by chance, because Butt failed to provide payment details. Instead they hired a Renault van from a firm in Harold Hill, Romford, in east London.
Commander Dean Haydon, of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism command, said: “Concerningly, Butt had earlier attempted to hire a 7.5-tonne lorry that same morning. When he did not provide payment details, the rental did not go ahead. The effects could have been even worse.”…