LONDON: The British Pakistani suspect held at Heathrow Airport in connection with Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq’s murder has been unofficially identified as Iftikhar Hussain and is currently under interrogation at a police station for the past 24 hours, Geo News reported.

The Metropolitan Police London told that decision regarding the suspect’s detention or release on bail will be finalised in the next 12 hours.

The British law allows police to continue investigation from the suspect for 36 hours.

According to sources, the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command has yet not disclosed the identity of the suspect formally.

The 52-year-old British citizen of Pakistani descent was arrested upon his arrival from Canada at Heathrow Airport around 10:10 AM Monday morning. The detectives lay in waiting for the man whose trail they were hot on for a long time. He was shifted to a West London Police station for further interrogation, which is yet underway.

Earlier, in a major breakthrough, the detectives investigating the murder of Dr Imran Farooq arrested a man on suspicion of conspiracy to murder the Pakistani politician on Thursday 16 September 2010.

Dr Farooq was on his way home from work when he was attacked outside his home in Green Lane, Edgware, by a group of Pakistani looking men who killed him using a kitchen knife and bricks. A post-mortem gave his cause of death as multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head.

A five and a half inch-bladed kitchen knife and a house brick used in the attack were recovered at the scene. A spokesman at the Metropolitan Police told that detectives from “the Met Police Counter Terrorism Command remain committed to finding those responsible”.

The detectives believe that Dr Imran Farooq’s murder would have required careful planning and would have required help from other people, some of whom may have provided assistance or information unwittingly.

Again on Monday, the Met Police said that it’s interested in speaking to anyone who was asked for information about Dr Farooq and his routine, or who was asked to help buy items such as knives similar to those used in the murder, or mobile phones around the time of the attack. The police believe that the items used in the murder were bought from local areas in Edgware prior to the attack and killing of the former convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The mobile sims used were not registered on any names but the police has connected the dozens of numbers called in Pakistan, London and few other countries using the sims which were shut down soon after the brutal killing.

The police has offered a reward of up to £20,000 for anyone providing information leading to the identification, arrest, and prosecution of those responsible for Dr Farooq's murder.

Sources have told Geo News that more arrests are expected soon as the detectives have received important new leads in recent days. Only a few days ago, two residential addresses were searched in London by the detectives for 55 hours non-stop. The police have so far questioned eight people under caution.