TWO teenagers have been charged with the murder of Blackburn jewellers Mohammed "Tony" Karim and his wife Bilquis.

The Blackburn youths, aged 16 and 18, were each charged early today with the double murder and were set to appear at Preston Magistrates' Court.

A 17- year-old woman has been charged with handling stolen goods and released on bail and a second 18-year-old youth has been released without charge.

Murder squad detectives arrested an 18-year-old youth on suspicion of murder and a 19-year-old woman on suspicion of handling stolen goods at Manchester airport on Wednesday. The woman was later released without charge.

On Friday night, two youths aged 16 and 18 and a woman, 17, were also arrested after police swooped on Blackburn addresses.

Magistrates granted permission for all four suspects to be held over the weekend while detectives questioned them about the murders at the Church Street shop in Preston. Mohammed Karim, 52, and his wife Bilquis, 48, of Whalley Old Road, Little Harwood, Blackburn, were stabbed to death on Friday, March 19, and gold bracelets worth £30,000 were stolen from the shop.

Their bodies were found by their sons Shabir and Shafiq, who broke into the shop after the couple failed to pick up their four grandchildren from school.

Prayers have been said for the dead couple and their families at the Randal Street mosque, Blackburn.

Coun Akhtar Hussain said the Blackburn community was still coming to terms with the tragic deaths.

Coun Hussain said: "I regarded him as a family member. They were respectable members of the community and will be a great loss.

"Their deaths have brought a great shock to me and to many at Blackburn Borough Council and in the Muslim community."

Police are still searching for more witnesses and have handed out hundreds of leaflets in English, Urdu and Gujarati.

Hot-lines have been set up for people with information on 01772 618800 or the foreign language line on 01772 618827.

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