LONDON — A group of Scotland Yard officers were suspended after “serious allegations” about their behavior during the arrests of five suspects last year, police said Tuesday.
London’s police force did not go into detail, but Sky News television, The Times of London and the Daily Mail newspapers reported that six officers were accused of “waterboarding” drug suspects. None of the media outlets identified their sources.
The papers gave varying accounts of the exact technique allegedly used by police, with the Times saying that officers are accused of pouring water on a cloth and placing it over a suspect’s face to simulate the experience of drowning.
However, the Times said police may have shoved suspects’ heads into bowls of water.
Neither paper said where exactly the alleged waterboarding took place.
Scotland Yard said the allegations center on the arrests of five people in north London in November. A spokesman said that he could not comment on the specifics of the claims because the matter is under investigation.
