Police say the attack was not terror related — but officers reportedly entered the mosque near Regent's Park to search for suspects amid reports they ran inside
THIS is the first picture released of a music producer who was reportedly stabbed to death for a £60,000 watch before the knifemen fled into a London mosque yesterday.
Zahir Visiter, 25, was found with stab wounds in a housing block in Westminster, shortly after saying goodbye to his parents and two younger brothers before they left for the airport.
Police say the attack was not terror related — but officers reportedly entered the mosque near Regent's Park to search for suspects amid reports they ran inside.
Visiter, originally from the Russian republic of Chechnya, was treated at the scene with help from paramedics but later died in hospital — making him the 31st murder victim in Lawless London so far this year.
A friend told that Visiter had been wearing an expensive watch which had been hanging from his wrist after the attack, as if someone had tried to prise it free.
They added he had been worried beforehand about being attacked, saying: ‘He phoned me two hours before the attack and expressed that he was in trouble.
The friend said: "He’d had an argument with someone which might have been about a girl. He also had a watch on which I believe was worth £60,000 which was hanging off his wrist as if they had tried to pull it off but had given up.
"What he was doing with a watch like this I don’t know.
"But everyone loved him round here, he was full of life. It seems to me these days life is just worth nothing, life has become cheap here."
Witnesses at the mosque last night claimed they saw two men being detained in handcuffs.
But the Met said no arrests have been made and officers continue to hunt the suspects.
Video from outside the mosque shared on social media showed armed police at the gates to the London Central Mosque, near Regent's Park, as a helicopter circled overhead.
A police cordon was in place at the mosque following the incident, with officers flanking parts of the building's perimeter, as a helicopter methodically circled overhead.
Witnesses say a man ran into the mosque shortly after the stabbing.
One of them, Bahir Moulana, said he was walking towards the mosque as the police were pushing people back before they closed the main gate.
With a number of armed officers at the scene, the 39-year-old said it gave him the "jitters", especially following the recent attack at two mosques in New Zealand.
Mr Moulana said: "I saw all the blue lights and my heart was in my mouth."
With worshippers eventually led out of the building, he added: "There was one girl who said she saw two guys run in.
"Someone else told me the police were chasing them."
Mr Moulana said he saw two people being detained and put in handcuffs by the police at the mosque.
He said: "The police just surrounded them.
"I saw that at around 7pm."
One neighbour, near Elmton Court, said she saw the stab victim being treated by paramedics.
She said: "I looked out of the window at around 6.30pm and I saw him on the floor... he was already getting CPR."
The neighbour added that before the attack she heard someone saying "What happened? What have you done?" before she then went to see what was going on.
A police spokeswoman confirmed the incident is linked to a raid at a nearby mosque.
She said: "We do have officers searching the area for the suspects."
The Met tweeted that the attack was not terror-related.
It said: "Officers continue to deal with a stabbing at Cunningham Place/Park Road, Westminster.
"We can confirm that this incident is not terror related.
"Searches for suspects are ongoing."
A police cordon was in place at the mosque following the incident, with officers flanking parts of the building's perimeter, as a helicopter methodically circled overhead.
A section of the A41 Park Road was also closed off by police.
The Labour MP for Westminster North, Karen Buck, said on Twitter: "Deeply saddened to hear this awful news.
"Police have been in contact with me and we await further details."
No arrests have been made.
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