[Mr. K]

they certainly don’t look “asian” to me

they look MIDDLE-EASTERN or like MUSLIMS

Does this newspaper think anyone is falling for their use of code-words?

[Jewbacca]

“Asian” is England-English for Indian or Paki.

[tomkat]

I'm a bit of a fan of older Brit tv shows, so can confirm that 'asian' is a long-standing descriptor used over there
for most anyone with ethnic roots in Asia, but most often the southern half thereof.

For that paper's home audience, there'd be general concensus as to whom they were referring.