DETECTIVES investigating the brutal murder of Blackburn couple Mohammed and Bilquis Karim have carried out a series of raids in the town.

Several people were arrested after police swooped on five addresses in Whitebirk and Shadsworth, in Blackburn.

Police also seized jewellery from the houses and are now examining it to see if it was taken from the dead couple's shop in Preston.

The people arrested in the raids were quizzed at Preston police station before being released without charge.

Detectives are now trying to establish whether the jewellery is part of the £30,000 haul of gold bracelets taken from the murder scene.

The mutilated bodies of Mohammed "Tony" Karim, 52, and his 48-year-old wife were discovered in their Preston shop last Friday.

A post-mortem examination carried out the day after the grisly discovery revealed the Karims had been stabbed to death.

The couple's sons, Shafiq and Shabir, made the grim discovery after the Karims failed to pick up their children from schools in Blackburn.

Shafiq and Shabir used a hammer to break into the jewellery shop and discovered the bodies of their parents in a living room at the back of the premises.

Mr and Mrs Karim lived in Whalley Old Road, Little Harwood, and were prominent members of the Asian community.

Appeals for information have gone out to the Asian communities in Preston and Blackburn over the last six days.

Detectives have also been studying video footage from security cameras in and around the jewellery shop in Church Street.

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