Laughs & hugs before carnage
Trio had early-hours rendezvous at gym
CCTV footage retrieved in police raid
THE Islamist fanatics who brought carnage to London Bridge were caught on CCTV laughing and embracing five days before the attack.
The three men met up outside an east London gym, looking relaxed and happy.
The grainy footage was unearthed after counter-terror officers raided the club in Ilford, east London, where it is believed they may have plotted the atrocity.
Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, met at Ummah Fitness Centre shortly after midnight on May 29.
The film shows Redouane, wearing an Adidas tracksuit top, leaving his mobile on a plastic builder’s sack before the trio walk off.
They are off camera 10 minutes and Redouane retrieves his mobile when they return – suggesting that they were wary that they might be under surveillance. They can then be seen chatting for a few minutes.
Smiling and looking relaxed, Zaghba embraces Butt and shakes Redouane’s hand before they part.
Butt, dressed in a salwar kameez, then goes into the gym – which is open until 3am during Ramadan.
Police swooped on the centre in the early hours of yesterday. They are said to have taken IT gear and the club was closed last night.
Fahad Khan, 36, the cousin of Butt’s widow Zahrah Rehman, 24, saw the killer praying at the gym 24 hours before the atrocity.
He said: “I shook hands with him and joined prayers on Friday night. Normally, he would hang around but he left immediately.
“He always favoured the idea of Islamic State. He would talk about it at the gym. He wanted to go to Syria and fight but because of family pressure, he did not. I heard his family took his passport to stop him.
“He said the way IS are doing things is justified, according to the true spirit of Islam, which is totally wrong. I challenged him.”
Fahad said Butt, the suspected ringleader of the terror attack, introduced him to Redouane at the
gym a month ago, describing him as “a friend”.
Zahrah had Butt’s daughter three weeks ago. Fahad said of his cousin: “She is in complete shock.”
Gym bosses have denied it is linked to Sajeel Shahid, 41, previously named as a member of the banned extremist network Al-Muhajiroun.
But some locals believe he runs Ummah Fitness Centre and visited as recently as Monday. Locals also questioned the gym’s claim that Butt only trained there “occasionally”.
One 20-year-old member said he thought Butt worked there, adding: “I saw him lifting weights and fighting in the ring.
“He trained members in martial arts. He often wore robes and there were prayer mats between the equipment. The atmosphere intimidated me.”
Local beauty salon owner Jag Trivedi claimed Butt threatened her after she locked his car behind her gates when he parked on her property illegally. She said: “When I told him I wouldn’t unlock the gates he said, ‘OK, I will come with a few people.” The way he said it was so scary.”
Shahid allegedly helped the 7/7 bombers, including ringleader Mohammed Siddique Khan, train in Pakistan.
A statement on the door of the gym yesterday read: “Mr Shahid is not employed in any position at the gym and does not own the business.
“We at UFC gym are shocked and deeply saddened by the events at London Bridge and Borough Market. There is never any justification for indiscriminately killing civilians.
“While Mr Butt did occasionally train here we do not know him well nor did we see anything of concern.”
Two men were arrested on suspicion of terror offences in a police raid on a home in a street next to the gym.