The brother of a Syrian refugee arrested over the Parsons Green terror attack insists he is innocent and his cousin says he is a normal 21-year-old who likes ‘to smoke, meet girls and go to the clubs’.
Yahya Faroukh was arrested by undercover police pretending to wait for a bus and posing as beggars outside the Aladdin’s Fried Chicken shop in Hounslow, West London on Saturday night.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from Egypt, the 21-year-old Syrian refugee’s brother Hamed said: ‘Yahya is innocent. He is a good guy. He works in a restaurant to make a living. He would not hurt anyone.’
His sister Safa’a said her brother ‘wouldn’t hurt a fly’ and claims news of his arrest led to their mother Aziza being taken to hospital in Cairo with a suspected heart attack.
Faroukh’s only family in Britain is his cousin Abo Zaid Fa, who lives in Greenock east of Glasgow, claims he has been living a Westernised life since arriving in 2013 aged 17.
Yahya Faroukh, 21, was cuffed outside Aladdin’s Fried Chicken in Hounslow on Saturday night (left), but his family have told MailOnlin the police have got the wrong man
Faroukh’s only family in Britain is his cousin Abo Zaid Fa, pictured together, who lives in Greenock east of Glasgow – he says he is not a terrorist
A photograph of the flaming white bucket taken just after it exploded around 8.20am on Friday shows a number of wires protruding out of the top of Lidl bag
Police believe that the 18-year-old Parsons Green bucket bomb suspect may have built the ‘Mother of Satan’ device in his foster parents’ shed (pictured), where chemicals have been found, neighbours say
Police were yesterday given more time to question suspect Faroukh after he was arrested on Saturday night outside Aladdin’s where he worked for the past nine months.
The terrorist suspect was then handcuffed and wrapped in transparent plastic in an attempt to preserve any forensic traces of explosives.
Dramatic footage emerged of him being seized by undercover police officers as he shouted ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ and KitKats and Maltesers fell out of his rucksack.
Hamed added: ‘My father, God bless his soul, brought us up to live decently and with high morals. Yahya has never mingled with bad guys or militants or Daesh people.’
Meanwhile Farouk’s sister Safa’a, one of six siblings, told of her shock at his arrest over the alleged terror plot where a ‘Mother of Satan’ bomb hidden in a Lidl carrier bag failed to go off.
‘We are so shocked and distressed to hear the news of Yahya’s arrest in London, she said. ‘It was even more distressing to hear all the newspapers and TVs talk about him in the Middle East and the world.
‘Yahya is innocent, we know he is. He could never hurt a fly. Why would hurt the family that adopted him or the country that welcomed him. The news have been so distressing, my mother, Aziza, has been taken to hospital with a heart attack. My brother Ala’a is with her now. We do not know what to do but we are thinking of going to the British Embassy in Cairo tomorrow.
Undercover police were waiting at the bus stop and surrounding streets and grabbed him outside the popular takeaway before preserving evidence at the scene
Faroukh, pictured on the Hungerford Bridge, is believed to come from Al Harah near Damascus – an area that has escaped much of the devastation caused by Syria’s civil war
Faroukh was arrested outside Aladdin’s chicken shop in Hounslow, west London (pictured today), where he worked for nine months
Police also swooped on a house in Stanwell, just yards away from Heathrow Airport, after a suspect was arrested in Hounslow last night
‘We are seven children, our father died a few months ago, we are now devastated with Yahya news of arrest. We have left Syria as family five years ago. We have since been living in Cairo. Yahya wanted to start a new life in Europe.’
Police have been given more time to question the suspect after he was arrested on Saturday night outside Aladdin’s Fried Chicken in Hounslow where he worked.
He appeared to enjoy smoking weed and drinking vodka as part of his ‘very westernised’ life.
His Instagram profile shows him enjoying a western lifestyle as he wrote about ‘smoking weed every day’ and posted an image saying: ‘For better life you need to have weed, vodka and drugs.’
It appears that Faroukh’s only family in Britain is his cousin Abo Zaid Fa, who lives in Greenock east of Glasgow.
The relatives met twice last year – once in Scotland in January 2016 and once in London in February 2016 – and Mr Fa was seen speaking to police with the help of an interpreter yesterday.
He later said he was shocked his cousin was held over a terror attack.
He said: ‘He is my cousin, a good guy who likes to smoke, meet girls and go to the clubs. I don’t believe he is a terrorist.
‘He came to visit me last year for one week’s holiday and I have visited him in London. But I haven’t spoken to him for a while. I don’t know what is going on with the police.’
Sharing pictures of their meeting last year Farroukh wrote on Facebook: “Had a good time with my cousin’ and Mr Fa responded: “God make you happy, cousin and protect you.”
Police have been able to trace the terror suspect’s journey from Sunbury in Surrey to Parsons Green using CCTV, which shows him holding a Lidl freezer bag
6.50am: In the CCTV video obtained by ITV , a man dressed in a grey tracksuit keeps his head down and his face hidden from the camera as he walks quickly down the street
7am: The prime suspect then walks along Vicarage Road (pictured) towards Sunbury railway station, sometimes struggling with the unwieldy bomb inside a Lidl freezer bag
Walking along the street carrying a Lidl shopping bag, this may be the Parsons Green tube bomber filmed on his way to carry out the planned atrocity
7.15am: The terror suspect is believed to have caught the service from Sunbury (file picture) to Wimbledon, arriving at 7.46am
8.10am: Detectives will be piecing together what happened in the 25 minutes or so before he boarded a district line train from Wimbledon
8.20am: The bomb sends a ‘wall of flame’ through the carriage of the train but fails to properly ignite at Parsons Green
Farroukh shared the photographs on social media and wrote: “Had a good time with my cousin.” Mr Fa commented on the post in Arabic and said: “God make you happy, cousin and protect you.”
Yesterday a close family friend said the Faroukh had been ‘hanging with the wrong crowd’.
Yahya Faroukh, whose home was raided by police, pictured at Brighton beach
Faroukh was furious after British officials refused to let him leave the country to visit his dying father, it was claimed last night.
The 21-year-old chicken shop worker was desperate to travel to Egypt but was told he could not because of his refugee status, colleagues said.
Scotland Yard detectives continued to questioned the Syrian for a third night yesterday after he was held in a dramatic operation in Hounslow, west London.
He is suspected of assisting the 18-year-old jihadi who planted the bucket bomb which burst into flames in a Tube carriage at Parsons Green.
Suleman Sarwar, 43, one of four brothers who own Aladdin’s Fried Chicken, said his employee’s father died up to eight weeks ago.
But he said Faroukh was ‘upset’ he was unable to visit him or attend the funeral because of his application to become a refugee.
‘Like many people do, he suffered a personal tragedy. His father died around six to eight weeks ago,’ he said.
‘His father was elderly, I believe it was a heart attack or something similar. He was told he wasn’t allowed to go, I believe because he was a refugee.’
Mr Sarwar said the young man – who had worked at the takeaway for nine months – appeared to dwell on his loss and frustration.
‘He was quiet and was mourning, but he was quiet anyway. After he mourned he just came back to work,’ he added.
Close friends of pensioners Penny and Ron Jones said the couple – who are widely respected in the local area – were at ‘their end’ with the teenager
Police officers have sealed off part of Cavendish Road in Sunbury-on-Thames as they search a property in connection with the Parsons Green bombing
Faroukh was arrested by plainclothes officers, including one posing as a homeless beggar and others who waited at a bus stop, as he left work at 11.30pm on Saturday.
Mobile phone footage showed chocolate bars spilling from his bag as he tumbled to the ground shouting: ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’.’
The next day police returned to the chicken shop to undertake a fingertip search of the building and staff lockers. They also confiscated CCTV footage.
Counter terrorist detectives are examining his movements over the previous week as they try and untangle his connection to the bomber.
It is believed the two men became friends after they were both taken in by Ronald and Penelope Jones in Sunbury-on-Thames after arriving in the UK.
The elderly couple’s home remains at the centre of the inquiry after the terrorist was caught on camera leaving on foot with the bucket bomb on Friday morning.
Mr Sarwar said: ‘We didn’t know him very well, he was employed here. He was quite quiet, very professional, he just worked here and didn’t socialise very much.
‘It came as a shock to see it was a member of staff who was arrested and to see the shop on the news. But these things happen.
‘He got on very normally with his colleagues. He was very normal, he never did anything to make us suspect anything.
‘If he did we would have been the first to tell the authorities.’
A former friend at West Thames College said he was ‘surprised’ the ‘quiet and friendly’ 21-year-old had been arrested.
The 18-year-old said: ‘I haven’t seen him since he left the course, but we are still friends on Facebook.
‘We were in a small group of friends, he was quiet and friendly. I didn’t really know that much about him. He didn’t smoke or drink.’
When asked if the arrest had come as a shock, he said: ‘Yes, of course, it’s very surprising, it’s not something I’d expect of him.’
Faroukh is believed to come from Al Harah near Damascus – an area that has escaped much of the devastation caused by Syria’s civil war
He was placed with the Joneses, who looked after children from war zones, after reaching Britain in 2013.
The couple were made MBEs by the Queen in 2009 for fostering hundreds of children.
West Thames College confirmed Faroukh joined aged 17 in December 2013 and studied English as a foreign language until June 2015.
‘The college has robust, well-established Prevent procedures and will co-operate fully with requests from the police,’ a spokesman said.
Police believe that the teenage Parsons Green bucket bomb suspect may have built the ‘Mother of Satan’ device in his foster parents’ shed.
A teenage suspect in the Parsons Green bombing was reported to the counter terrorism strategy Prevent months before the attack, it was claimed last night.
The 18-year-old Iraqi refugee, who was fostered by a couple in Sunbury-on-Thames, was said to have been in frequent trouble with the police and authorities.
His desperate foster parents were alleged to have been struggling to cope.
Sources yesterday said that his behaviour had become so bad that he had been referred to Prevent, the Government’s de-radicalisation programme, which aims to turn potential extremists away from terror.
The referral was apparently made several months ago through Surrey County Council, which was responsible for placing the orphan with Penny and Ronald Jones, who have fostered hundreds of children.
It is unclear what – if anything – was done before Friday morning when the 18-year-old is suspected of planting a bomb on a Tube train at London’s Parsons Green station. Thirty passengers were injured when the crude device partially exploded.
The revelation will raise new questions about what the police and security services knew about the suspect. Donald Trump sparked a row on the day of the attack by suggesting that police had had him ‘in their sights’.
Yesterday, footage emerged of a suspect striding through the streets with a Lidl bag thought to contain a bucket of homemade explosive chemicals.
Wearing a red cap, he strolled past shops and pedestrians towards Sunbury station, where he is believed to have taken a train to Wimbledon for a District Line tube to Parsons Green.
CCTV footage obtained by ITV News also shows the teenager cycling around the area in the days before the blast holding a Union Jack carrier bag. Yesterday it also emerged that the Joneses, who took in the 18-year-old and another suspect, 21-year-old Yahya Faroukh, are so devastated that they have decided never to foster again.
Police are looking at other foster children for possible links to the two suspects. Experts are also examining a shed in the couple’s back garden for traces of bomb-making chemicals.
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