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Homegrown Terrorists Puzzle Britain
 LONDON (AP) - One was an athletic teenager who had grown into a devout young man, another a soccer-loving convert to Islam. The youngest was 17, the oldest 35. Many were born in Britain and all were reared here.
As police held 23 young British Muslims accused of plotting devastating airline bombings, both the authorities and their neighbors sought Friday to understand how ordinary communities spawned a terrifying plot. 19 names were made public Friday by the Treasury after the government froze their bank accounts. They have names of Muslim origin, including many that are common in Pakistan. At least 14 live in London, four in leafy High Wycombe, 30 miles away, and two in the central city of Birmingham.
| Not a single Clive, Trevor or Nigel amongst them eh? |
It is unclear how the men met or who the ringleader is, although suspicion has fallen on the only one identified who is over 30 - Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 35, of east London.
The father of three of the arrested men, Faisal Hussain, collapsed into tears, telling Britain's ITV News that his sons - Nabeel, Umair and Mehran - weren't involved any plot. ``They went to prayer and they were Muslims, that is the only thing they were guilty of,'' he said through an interpreter in an interview broadcast Friday.
| They must have been listening to the spittle-spewing preacher at the mosque, Pops. |
At least nine of the suspects lived in Walthamstow, a typically polyglot London neighborhood of modest brick houses and small apartment blocks, halal butchers, pubs and fast-food restaurants. It is an ethnically mixed community with a smattering of affluent professionals and a large Muslim population served by several mosques. ``Walthamstow's a happy, chilled-out community,'' said resident Hajra Mir. ``We weren't expecting this.''
That sense of shock was repeated across the neighborhood. Residents said it is a friendly, quiet area where people respect their neighbors. Several of the suspects had lived there for many years and attended local schools.
But several men from the neighborhood have been linked to the Saviour Sect - an offshoot of a disbanded radical Islamist group, al-Muhajiroun, which was based in nearby Tottenham and gained notoriety for praising the Sept. 11 hijackers.
| A-ha. Think we might strike gold if we dig there? |
A Walthamstow leader of the sect, Abdul Muhid, has been charged with soliciting murder during an angry protest earlier this year over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in a Danish newspaper. He had previously been arrested for calling for the killing of British troops while proselytizing at a Walthamstow market.
| There's your designated spittle-spewer. Now we need to identify the money man, the bag man, the chemist, the chemist's assistant, the messenger, and the operations ringleader. |
Last fall, a rally planned by the group at a community center was banned by local officials after organizers distributed leaflets portraying an Islamic fighter holding a rocket launcher outside the prime minister's Downing Street residence.
Local Muslim leaders say the area's major mosques are vigilant about keeping radicals away. But several of the suspects appeared to fit the pattern of radicalization seen in the bombers who attacked the London transit system: young men born and bred in Britain, raised in moderate homes, but drawn to a more uncompromising version of Islam than that practiced by their parents.
| Right about the time they have trouble finding a job, dating a non-Muslim girl, get introduced to life at the mosque, and meet the spittle-spewer. More biographical information on the attackers at the link. |
Posted by: Steve White 2006-08-12 |
