Tube attack: Police given more time to question suspects

One man detained over the Parsons Green blast is named as Yahyah Farroukh (21)

CCTV obtained by ITV News appears to show a person walking with a Lidl bag on the morning of the Parsons Green terror attack. The footage is reported to have been filmed near a house in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey. Video: ITN

Detectives have been granted more time to question two men held in raids over the Parsons Green terror attack.

An 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old man, identified by his employers as Yahyah Farroukh, were arrested on Saturday over Friday morning’s bomb attack on a London Underground train.

Scotland Yard said on Monday night that magistrates had granted warrants allowing the 18-year-old to be held until Saturday, September 23rd, and Farroukh until Thursday, September 21st.

Police officers search an address in Stanwell on September 17th. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Police officers search an address in Stanwell on September 17th. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Personal belongings and a bucket with an item on fire inside it are seen on the floor of an underground train carriage at Parsons Green station in West London
Personal belongings and a bucket with an item on fire inside it are seen on the floor of an underground train carriage at Parsons Green station in West London

The men, understood to be from Iraq and Syria respectively, are believed to have both been fostered by the same British couple.

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The news came as fresh CCTV footage that appears to show the 18-year-old bomb suspect on his way to plant his homemade device was discovered.

The video obtained by the Press Association shows a figure dressed in grey carrying a distinctive white Lidl carrier bag about 80 minutes before the explosion that injured 29 people.

The footage was obtained from a camera outside Ecco La Vera pizzeria on Vicarage Road in Sunbury-on-Thames.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “[The suspects] both remain in custody at a south London police station.

“Searches are continuing at two addresses in Surrey and a commercial property in Hounslow in connection with this ongoing investigation.”

Both Farroukh and the 18-year-old are believed to have spent time in foster care with Penelope and Ronald Jones, aged 71 and 88 respectively, who previously received MBEs for services to children and families.

The home of Penelope and Ronald Jones was raided by armed police on Saturday morning.

Images published by the Sun on Sunday night appeared to show Farroukh being stopped and arrested by police outside a fried-chicken shop in Hounslow in west London on Saturday night, after a struggle.

Officers are understood to have begun searching the chicken shop soon after.

Searches

Metropolitan police officers continued their search in the area on Monday morning.

Police were also searching an address understood to be Farroukh’s home in nearby Stanwell, in Surrey, only yards from the outer boundaries of Heathrow airport.

The as-yet unnamed 18-year-old was stopped by officers near the port in Dover.

According to a Facebook profile thought to belong to the 21-year-old, he is originally from Damascus, in Syria, and studied English for speakers of other languages at West Thames College, near to the Stanwell property.

His profile also claims that he worked for an events company in London.

Images of Farroukh on Facebook show him with family members and posing in front of a tourist site in central London.

The Sun quoted an unnamed witness to Farroukh’s arrest as saying: “The guy had just walked past the takeaway when three blokes and a woman came running past and he was rugby-tackled to the floor.

“My mates and I thought he was getting jumped. We were going to help him but they shouted ‘undercover police’ so we stepped back.

“The guy was screaming. When they took him down his phone went flying and he dropped his bag containing a drink can and a KitKat. The cops were shouting to get his phone. I guess because it holds important information.

“A forensic team wrapped his arms in plastic up to his biceps and his legs up to his thighs. They put plastic on his shoes, then put him in overalls and plastic cuffs. They put him in a car which also had all the seats wrapped in plastic.”

ITV News also released footage on Sunday evening showing a man leaving the Sunbury house on the morning of the attack.

He was carrying a bag that resembled that photographed in the tube carriage.

PA and Guardian