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| Britain |
| Day 3: Second man arrested for Parsons Green bucket bomb identified as Syrian refugee who had been housed with the same foster parents as the arrested yoot |
| 2017-09-18 |
[DailyMail]
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 appears to have fled his homeland for Egypt, possibly by flying to Cairo. On November 23, 2013, he posted a picture on his Facebook page showing a dilapidated fishing boat with the caption: 'The boat we took from Egypt to Italy.' Within a few days he was in Croydon, where Britain's immigration authorities are based. He was placed with the Joneses at their home in Sunbury-on-Thames and began studying at West Thames College. On his Instagram he wrote about 'smoking weed every day' and posted an image saying: 'For better life you need to have weed, vodka and drugs.' He also posted anti-Israel images proclaiming: 'Stop Israeli terror in Palestine.' Mohammed Konbus, who met Faroukh during the journey through Egypt, said: 'He wasn't into all that religious stuff. He was a very sensible person and very mature. I am so surprised that he has been linked to this. 'I really hope that it isn't him, but I haven't seen him in three years, and no one knows what can happen in three years. 'He doesn't seem like a guy that would go to that limit. I don't agree with people being killed so I hope we find out who it was. 'We moved because the situation got worse in Egypt and he wanted to learn English and start establishing his future.' At Christmas 2015, Faroukh appears to have travelled to Scotland to see a cousin, also a refugee, and some children. But 11 weeks ago, on June 29 - a few days after the London Bridge terror attack – his father died back in Syria. It set off a period of intense mourning for Faroukh, who posted sombre images of his father on his Facebook page. By now he was living in a house in Staines, next to Heathrow Airport. Anti-terror police swooped there yesterday. Neighbour Pat Hodge, 59, said: 'My wife and I have sat outside in the communal garden with him in the summer and had ice lollies. 'He seems like a nice chap. Sometimes his family come down from Edinburgh, I think it's his brother and two nephews. 'They're all really lovely to talk to. They're obviously Arabic but the kids speak with perfect Scottish accents. The other suspect arrested, an 18-year-old Iraqi, is also believed to have come from the foster care of the Jones family. A local councillor said the teenage suspect came to the UK aged 15 after his parents died in Iraq while a friend of the Joneses said the man's biological family did not agree with him moving in with Christian foster parents. It comes as a man was caught on camera an hour-a-half before the Parsons Green bombing carrying a Lidl bag as he left the Joneses' house. CCTV footage shows a figure outside the property in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, at 6.50am, just 90 minutes before a 'bucket bomb' inside a shopping bag exploded and injured 30 people. 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. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |