Police have made four more arrests over the disappearance of three young brothers kidnapped by their father from a foster home in south London.
The new suspects are all male and were arrested in Ilford, east London, on Friday on suspicion of conspiracy to abduct children and remain in custody.
They are all thought to be known to the boys' father Imran Safi, 26, who officers believe may have abducted his sons because they were about to be officially adopted.
Image:Police are hunting for Imran Safi and are urging for people to get in touch with them about his movements
On Thursday, police put out an urgent appeal after Bilal, Mohammed Ebrar and Mohammed Yaseen, aged six, five and three, were taken from their home in Coulsdon on Thursday 20 August.
In a statement from Scotland Yard, detectives said the children were playing in the garden while their foster carer was in the house.
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She told officers she heard footsteps nearby, turned around and saw Mr Safi, who then threatened her with a knife and used force to take the children.
He drove off in his distinctive red Nissan Qashqai car, with a reg plate which reads PK13 WFO, in Coulsdon Road, Croydon, south London, later that afternoon.
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They have not been seen since.
The foster carer did not suffer any serious physical injuries, but was left "distressed".
Image:The car used to take the children away is a distinctive red Nissan Qashqai
A manhunt for Mr Safi was immediately launched by detectives. They have been working out of a specialist facility to trace his movements.
Chief superintendent Dave Stringer, commander of the south area basic command unit, said: "Whilst this development has brought us one step closer to finding Imran and the three children, we still need more information from the public to help us locate them.
"Since we appealed for help yesterday afternoon (Thursday 27 August), we have received more than 30 calls from members of the public to our control room and via Crimestoppers. These calls are now being followed up by my officers who continue to work all hours of the day to bring these children home safely.
"I would really urge anyone from the Croydon, and now Ilford, area to think long and hard about if they saw these children, or their father, the evening of Thursday, 20 August and possibly the morning of Friday 21 August."
Previously, eight individuals were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the abduction.
They included:
A 25-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man, who were arrested in Kenley on Friday, 21 August
Three men, two aged 20 and one aged 17, who were arrested in Croydon on Sunday, 23 August
A 25-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man who were arrested in Kenley on Tuesday, 25 August
A 33-year-old man who was arrested in Croydon on Tuesday, 25 August
All eight have since been bailed to return to a south London police station at a later date.
Anyone who believes they have seen Mr Safi and his children since Thursday 20 August should contact the police immediately through the investigation control room on 07942599374.
The number is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Alternatively, people can contact the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.
A man has admitted manslaughter after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a lorry container in Essex.
The men, women and children were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October in Grays.
Haulier Ronan Hughes, 40, of Tyholland, County Monaghan, admitted manslaughter and conspiring to assist unlawful immigration at the Old Bailey.
A second man, Eamonn Harrison, 23, of Mayobridge, County Down, denied 39 charges of manslaughter.
Mr Harrison also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to assist unlawful immigration and faces a trial in October.
Hughes, whose conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration charge spanned 1 May 2018 to 24 October 2019, was described as "a ringleader of a people smuggling ring".
His address in court was given as in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.
The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate soon after the lorry arrived in the UK on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Ten teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys, were among the dead.
An inquest heard their medical cause of death was asphyxia and hyperthermia.
Also on Friday, Gazmir Nuzi, 42, of Barclay Road, Tottenham, north London, pleaded guilty to a single charge of assisting unlawful immigration on or before 11 October 2019 and 18 April 2020.
Earlier this year, lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, County Armagh, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Mr Harrison now faces a trial expected to last five weeks starting on 5 October with three others.
Gheorghe Nica, 43, of Langdon Hills, Basildon, Essex, denies 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
Valentin Calota, 37, of Birmingham, and Christopher Kennedy, 23, of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, have each denied conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
A man has admitted manslaughter after the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants found in a lorry container in Essex.
The men, women and children were discovered in a refrigerated trailer on 23 October in Grays.
Haulier Ronan Hughes, 40, of County Armagh, Northern Ireland, admitted manslaughter and conspiring to assist unlawful immigration at the Old Bailey.
A second man, Eamonn Harrison, 23, of Mayobridge, County Down, denied 39 charges of manslaughter.
He also pleaded not guilty to conspiring to assist unlawful immigration and faces a trial in October.
Hughes, whose conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration charge spanned 1 May 2018 to 24 October 24 2019, was described as "a ringleader of a people smuggling ring".
The bodies of the Vietnamese nationals were discovered at an industrial estate soon after the lorry arrived in the UK on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Ten teenagers, two of them 15-year-old boys, were among the dead.
An inquest heard their medical cause of death was asphyxia and hyperthermia.
Earlier this year, lorry driver Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon, County Armagh, pleaded guilty to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
People will again be encouraged to go back to their workplaces as part of a government campaign starting next week.
Employers will be asked to reassure staff it is safe to return by highlighting measures taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Business leaders have warned of damage being done to city centres as people stay away from offices.
And Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said some things were "impossible" to do remotely.
But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he cared more about how employees performed than where they were working.
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, which represents civil servants, said ministers needed to accept the "world of work has changed" and millions of employees were working from home successfully.
Ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are still advising people to work from home if possible.
The campaign, which will launch as most schools in England and Wales reopen, will predominantly be promoted through regional media, BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said.
Meanwhile, nine in 10 UK employees who have worked from home during lockdown would like to continue in some form, according to a survey.
The research by academics at Cardiff and Southampton universities - which involved thousands of people between April and June - suggests the majority of people working from home are as productive, if not more.
Whitehall sources insist the campaign will not suggest those who continue to work from home are at any greater risk of losing their jobs.
Labour's shadow business minister, Lucy Powell, said no one should be forced "to choose between their health and their job" and the government should "categorically rule out" any campaign suggesting people could be out of a job if they refused to return to the office.
Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: "The prime minister needs a credible plan to help more people travel and work safely, not a scare campaign."
She called for a fast and reliable test-and-trace system, better enforcement of transport and workplace safety and more childcare support.
The employers' organisation the CBI has warned city centres could become "ghost towns" if the prime minister does not do more to encourage staff back, with businesses relying on passing trade from office workers.
Some prominent Conservative MPs share these concerns and have urged ministers to deliver a clear and consistent message that it is safe to return.
But Mr Hancock said getting staff back to work was a "matter for employers" and, when asked about the Department for Health, that his main concern was how employees performed.
"Some of them have been working from home, some come in sometimes, some are in full-time - and what matters to me is that they deliver and, frankly, they've been delivering at an unbelievable rate," the health secretary told Times Radio.
Mr Shapps told BBC Breakfast his own department was encouraging people to return to the office but it was "a gradual process".
Where it is safe to do so, the transport secretary said people should go back to their workplaces, adding that there were some things which were "impossible" to do remotely.
"But I suspect we'll see more flexible working than we've seen in the past and it will be for employers and employees to work out the right balance in their particular cases," he said.
Mr Shapps said employees with "legitimate concern" over whether their workplace was "Covid-secure" could raise this with the Health and Safety Executive but most employers had worked hard to make them safe.
He acknowledged the return of pupils to school and parents to work tended to "create pressures" on the public transport system.
"We'll be watching those very carefully and looking to, for example, in some cases run additional services where we see those problems bubble up," he said.
However, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said people returning to offices as normal would put pressure on public transport and create "too high a risk of the virus spreading very quickly".
Can employers force staff back to the office?
In the overwhelming majority of cases the return to office work - or the continuation of home-working - will be a matter of discussion between employers and employees. Businesses will heed public health and government employment guidance, carry out risk assessments, meet employees' concerns and make any reasonable adjustments to facilitate a return to a safe office.
Much will depend on the nature of the business and the specific employee role, but there are two principal grounds on which employees can challenge an employer's demand that they return to the office.
Firstly, if the employee is disabled or has a condition which puts them at a higher risk of contracting Covid-19, or suffering more severely if they do contract it, they could challenge the demand as discriminatory under the Equality Act. Age could also play a part here as older workers could argue they are more vulnerable to the virus.
Those workers, who tend more often to be female and are caring for others who are especially vulnerable to the virus, could bring indirect sex discrimination claims if compelled to return.
Secondly, the Employment Rights Act protects employees who reasonably believe there is a "serious and imminent" risk of danger in returning to work. This could include risks in getting to and from the workplace.
If meaningful work has been carried out at home during lockdown, it will be difficult for employers to resist requests for flexible working. However, employees must be mindful of their duty to carry out any demands from their employer which are legal and reasonable.
The industries with the largest proportion of employees working remotely were education and information and communication, where the figure was more than 70%.
Figures from investment banking company Morgan Stanley suggest the proportion of UK office workers operating in their normal workplace is less than half that of other major European countries.
One of the main reasons given was that firms could not see a way of accommodating large numbers of staff while social distancing regulations were still in place.
In May, Boris Johnson said people who could not work from home - such as those in construction and manufacturing - should return to the workplace.
Then in July, he told people to "start to go back to work now if you can" and has repeated the plea since then.
This week Sir Ed was confirmed as the new Lib Dem leader, seeing off rival Layla Moran in a one-sided race to take over the party reigns from Jo Swinson, who stood down following the party's horror general election last year. With both candidates vowing to energise the Lib Dems, the polls opened at the end of July, before Sir Ed was crowned the winner with 63.5 percent of the vote. But in a desperate blow, it has since emerged that only around 57 percent of Lib Dem party members opted to vote in the election, the worst among the last leadership contests for the UK's three main parties.
According to Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, when Prime Minister Boris Johnson successfully secured his win in the Conservatives' leadership race, a whopping 87 percent of Tory members turned out to vote.
In the recent Labour contest, which saw Sir Keir Starmer take over from Jeremy Corbyn, approximately 73 percent of members cast their vote in the poll.
Despite claiming to enjoy record numbers of members, which the party reported was up to more than 120,000 in July 2019, the number voting fell dramatically by 15 percent, when compared to the last Lib Dem leadership race just over 12 months ago.
Upon hearing of the poor polling numbers, LBC host Iain Dale questioned both candidates' mandates, with the Brexiteer calling out "wokery" as a potential pitfall.
Writing in Conservative Home, he said: "So we now have two party leaders who we have to call Sir. (Can it really be long before we all have to imagine the words, ‘Arise, Sir Ian Blackford’?)
"After an interminable leadership campaign, the Liberal Democrats announced yesterday that Ed Davey has been elected their new leader, walloping Layla Moran by 43,000 votes to only 25,000.
"It’s interesting to note that while 88 percent of Conservative members voted in the 2019 leadership contest, only 57 percent of Lib Dems could be bothered to vote for either Davey or Moran.
