Tube bombing suspect ‘bought key chemical on Amazon’
THE teenage refugee accused of the Parsons Green terror attack bought one of the key ingredients of the crude bomb on Amazon, a court was told yesterday.
Ahmed Hassan, 18, purchased highly concentrated acid from the online retailer before packing the device with knives and screws, it is alleged.
Forensic experts suspect he used the chemical to make a large quantity of a highly volatile homemade explosive known as ‘Mother of Satan’.
But the plastic bucket bomb failed to explode after it was left with a timing device on a District Line train in south-west London last week.
Instead it erupted into a fireball, leaving up to 30 people injured, including one woman who remains in hospital with serious burns.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London yesterday, a judge was told Iraqi refugee Hassan – who entered the country illegally in 2015 – was driven by a ‘warped political view’.
Prosecutor Lee Ingham said a witness told police his parents had been killed and he was terrified of being sent home.
‘He was scared of being sent back to Iraq,’ Mr Ingham said.
Hassan, who has long, tangled curly hair and wore a policeissue grey tracksuit, sat silently with his hands clasped as the evidence against him was revealed to a packed courtroom. Flanked by two custody officers and a policeman, he spoke in a soft voice to confirm his full name as ‘Mohammed Hassan Ahmed Ali’.
The terrorist suspect gave his address as the foster home in Sunbury-on-Thames, in Surrey, where he is suspected of building the bomb in a garden shed. Mr Ingham said Hassan’s fingerprints were found on a pole on the train, the burned bucket and the device itself.
He said the explosive was identified as TATP, which can ‘cause serious injury or death’. More than 100g of explosives were allegedly found in the device and several hundred grams more at Hassan’s temporary Surrey home. The unexploded container was found packed with shrapnel including ‘knives, screws and similar items’ intended to ‘increase the likelihood and severity of death,’ the court heard.
‘It did not function to the extent of detonating the TATP charge fully – probably due to incorrect construction,’ Mr Ingham added.
Driven by ‘warped political view’
‘All the key ingredients needed for TATP had been purchased online, including on Amazon.’
Hassan was arrested at the port of Dover the day after the September 15 attack sparked a manhunt across the UK.
He had been living with elderly foster parents Penelope and Ronald Jones, who have been recognised by Queen Elizabeth for their service. Hassan was arrested by police as he prepared to board a crosschannel ferry. Mr Ingham said: ‘He said he was meeting Yahyah Farroukh, a friend from Syria.
‘He was going to stay with him in Holland.’
Mr Farroukh, 21, was arrested within hours at the takeaway where he worked in London but has since been released without charge.
Police will be concerned that the ingredients for the potentially deadly bomb were allegedly bought so easily, including from online retailers.
An investigation revealed yesterday how Amazon supplied all the parts to build a deadly nail bomb in one delivery, without checks. A newspaper bought chemicals, a clock, electrical wires and other key materials for less than €100 from Amazon, who declined to comment yesterday.
Hassan, who once lived in a bedsit in a homeless hostel for disadvantaged young people after moving to the UK, is charged with attempted murder and using TATP to endanger life or cause serious injury to property. He will appear at the Old Bailey on October 13.