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My friend the suspect
A man claiming to be a friend of two of the suspects from last week's attempted bombings has told Channel 4 News they were devout Muslims who encouraged him to be a more devout Muslim and held meetings in the block of flats now being searched by police. After naming Muktar Mohammed Said and Yassin Hassan Omar, officers are today widening their search for the men and the evidence still further. Police have continued their search of the block this morning. They believe the flat occupied by the two men may have been used as a bomb factory. Five people have so far been arrested, although none of them are thought to be the bombers.Police have now extended their forensic examination to a wider area around Curtis House in New Southgate, North London, where it's believed two of the suspects lived in a flat on the ninth floor. A fridge has been removed from the flat and a number of other buildings have been sealed off. One resident says three weeks ago she saw would-be bus bomber Muktar Said Ibrahim, who's believed to be from Eritrea, loading around 50 cardboard boxes into a lift with the help of another man called George who has lived in the flat for some years. Ibrahim told the woman the boxes contained chemicals for stripping wallpaper. The same woman also claims to have seen a Somali or Ethiopian man who was staying at the flat sweeping up a large amount of white powder that had split in the hallway. He may have been Yasin Hassan Omar.
Enfield council has confirmed that a man of that name has been a registered tenant at 58 Curtis House, a one bed flat, since February 1999 and that he received housing benefit until this May. Two of the four suspects have not yet been named. The police have released this CCTV image of one on the northern line train he tried to blow up last Thursday. But he, along with the fourth plotter and the two men named yesterday haven't been seen since fleeing the scenes of their failed missions. They're not among the five men being held by police. The Home Office is continuing to trawl its records for any information they may have about Ibrahim and Omar. And detectives are still trying to trace plastic containers similar to those used by the bombers - only 100 shops in Britain sell the tubs, which are imported from India. The investigation is all the more urgent because a fifth device found in bushes in West London means a fifth suicide bomber may be on the run. That's of great concern not only to tube passengers, but also staff who fear being mistaken for a bomber. It has emerged that a tube driver who heard gunshots came out of his cab only to be chased by plain-clothes police and had a gun held to his head. Posted by: Steve 2005-07-26 |
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