Father and brother seized
THE father and younger brother of Salman Abedi have been arrested in Libya, it was revealed yesterday.
Ramadan Abedi and son Hashem were allegedly planning a terror attack in the country’s capital Tripoli.
Ramadan was seized by armed officers outside his home yesterday afternoon, shortly after declaring his killer son to be innocent.
Hashem, 20, was detained on Tuesday shortly after his older brother Ismail, 23, was arrested in Manchester over Monday night’s atrocity. It emerged yesterday Hashem allegedly knew his brother was plotting to massacre children at a pop concert.
Libyan police said: “He was aware of all the details.”
Salman, 22, had visited his parents in Tripoli six weeks ago, around the time police put Hashem under secret surveillance for alleged links to Islamic State.
Libyan counter-terror police reportedly monitored contact between the brothers over the past few weeks.
Like his two brothers, Hashem had been raised in Manchester.
He recently moved to Tripoli with his parents and sister.
It is not clear whether the British authorities were tipped off that Salman was the brother of a man under suspicion of having IS links.
Shortly before his arrest, Ramadan is reported to have said: “We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us.’’