Grinning with their friends as schoolboys, these are two of the men suspected of plotting to bring terror to British streets.
Just three years ago Tarik Hassane and Gusai Abuzeid were ‘happy-go-lucky’ best friends at Westminster City School.
Now
the 21-year-olds are sitting in a high security police cell suspected
of links to a violent conspiracy inspired by Islamic State fanatics.
Suspects:
Scotland Yard has warned Tarik Hassane (top left), Gusai Abuzeid (bottom
left), Rawan Kheder (right) and two other men that they face up to a
week behind bars after they were held in a dramatic series of raids
Scotland
Yard has warned the men – and three others – that they face up to a
week behind bars after they were held in a dramatic series of raids.
Senior
sources said they were arrested in a bid to disrupt a ‘significant’
plot which threatened an unknown target in the capital.
But last night their families and friends questioned whether they could really be linked to a violent fundamentalist conspiracy.
Neighbours
said a third suspect, Rawan Kheder, 20, is an Iraqi Kurd, a group which
is locked in bitter fighting with Islamic State militants.
They
described the student – seen here dressed in a dinner suit in a picture
taken from his Facebook page – as a polite and hard-working young man.
In
March, he organised an event called ‘Discover Islam’ at Nottingham
University. The family of the fourth suspect, who cannot be identified,
live in a council flat in central London.
Education: Just three years ago
Hassane and Abuzeid were 'happy-go-lucky' best friends at Westminster
City School (pictured). Now the 21-year-olds are sitting in a high
security police cell
More
than 48 hours after their arrest, the Daily Mail can reveal police are
probing whether the men are linked to terrorist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary –
better known as the ‘hip-hop jihadi’.
The extremist is several years older than the suspects but moved in the same West London circles.
'Hip-hop jihadi': Police are probing whether the men are linked to terrorist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary (above)
Several
close friends of those in custody have even appeared in his amateur
music videos filmed on the streets of Maida Vale and Ladbroke Grove.
Abdel Bary, 24, abandoned a fledgling career as a rapper to travel to Syria and join militants fighting the Assad regime.
At
one stage the extremist, whose father was a lieutenant of Osama bin
Laden, was incorrectly suspected of being Islamic State hostage murderer
Jihadi John.
He has been outspoken on social networking sites, posing for macabre photographs with guns and a severed head.
Last
night, Scotland Yard revealed a fifth man was arrested as part of the
terror swoop on Tuesday but his detention was kept secret for
‘operational reasons’.
The suspect, whose identity cannot be revealed, is also understood to be a former pupil of Westminster City School.
It recently emerged Abuzeid appeared in a short film as part of an A-level media studies project, in which he was ‘kidnapped’.
In
the video the main character, played by Abuzeid, can be seen running
through the school before two men confront and kidnap him. They are then
seen interrogating him about the location of a ‘file’.
Neighbours of Abuzeid, who lives in a modern apartment block in Marylebone, were shocked at his arrest.
One
woman said: ‘There was nothing to say he was really religious, he wore
jeans, trainers just like any Brit. I’ve lived next door to his family
for a year-and-a-half... they are very well-to-do.’
Home: Neighbours of Abuzeid, who lives in this modern apartment block in Marylebone, were shocked at his arrest
Probe: Neighbours said forensic teams
have 'pulled up' the floors of two flats occupied by Hassane's aunt and
uncle on the Princess Alice estate (pictured), west London, in their
search for clues
Kheder’s
family home in Chelsea, west London, was raided by ‘dozens’ of armed
police on Tuesday morning, according to neighbours.
They said his father runs a plumbing firm and that Kheder is a martial arts fan and keen follower of Arsenal FC.
Nacer
Dahmas, 58, said: ‘They have lived here for at least 20 years and they
are the most wonderfully kind family. All the neighbours say the same
thing. He never mentioned politics.
'There
was nothing to say he was really religious, he wore jeans, trainers
just like any Brit. I’ve lived next door to his family for a
year-and-a-half... they are very well-to-do'
Neighbour of Gusai Abuzeid, man who is suspected of terror plot
‘He
was a practising Muslim but never seemed like a fanatic. I think the
family are Iraqi Kurds. They were a hard working moderate family.
‘His
older brother has finished university and his older sister is married
with a little child. I think she might be a solicitor.’
Friends
of Hassane, whose Moroccan mother works at a school, have defended him
after it emerged he wrote ‘I smell war’ on Twitter just hours before he
was arrested.
Launching
a ‘Justice for Tarik’ campaign, many said it simply referred to a
‘bunch of rowdy girls’ who were bickering on the social networking site.
Neighbours
said forensic teams have ‘pulled up’ the floors of two flats occupied
by his aunt and uncle on the Princess Alice estate, west London, in
their search for clues.
The suspects could remain in custody for up to 14 days. A magistrate has already granted an extension until next Tuesday.
They
were held on suspicion of being concerned in the commission,
preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, which carries a life
sentence if they are convicted.
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