‘My boy is innocent. He was about to become an uncle’
SHOCKING CLAIM OF BOMBER’S DAD AS HE’S ARRESTED IN LIBYA
SUICIDE bomber Salman Abedi’s father, right, claims his son was “innocent” of mass murder and looking forward to being an uncle.
THE brother of Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi last night confessed he was in on the terror plot.
Brit-born Hashim Abedi, 20, was arrested in Tripoli, Libya – 2,000 miles from the UK concert hall where his 22-year-old sibling blew himself up on Monday night killing 22 including children as young as eight.
Libya’s anti-terror police claimed Hashim had admitted he “was aware of all the details” of his brother’s attack at the end of a gig by US singer Ariana Grande at Manchester Arena.
They claimed Hashim had also confessed both he and his brother belonged to Islamic State.
Hashim, who quit Britain for Libya last month, was allegedly detained by officers from Libya’s Special Deterrent anti-terror force as he was receiving a cash transfer authorised by his brother before he carried out the deadly attack.
His detention came after the arrest of their dad Ramadan on live TV – moments after he had insisted his son Salman was innocent.
Pals suggested the killer could not have launched a suicide plot because he was said to have been excited at the prospect of becoming an uncle for the first time.
Salman’s other brother Ismail, 23, who was arrested by police in Britain on Tuesday, is shortly set to become a dad and had recently left his job as an IT expert at a Bolton bakery. Ramadan, a chief in Tripoli’s Central Security force, said he was sure Salman was not the Manchester bomber.
He said: “We don’t believe in killing innocents.”
Salman had visited Libya a month-and-a-half ago and had been planning to spend the holy month of Ramadan with his family.
Moments later – with TV cameras still filming – two cars full of masked men screeched up to Ramadan’s home, grabbed him, bundled him
inside and hauled him off. Officials later announced the dad had been arrested by Libya’s specialist counter-terror unit.
Abedi Snr fled Libya in 1993 after Col Gaddafi’s security authorities issued an arrest warrant and eventually sought political asylum in Britain where Salman was born.
Yesterday pals claimed he was a boozing, jointsmoking student drop-out who quit his business management course at Salford University before being radicalised during a trip to Libya where most of his family had returned to live. Security service sources said some of his relatives were fighters for organisations linked to al-Qaida and Salman crossed the border to Syria where he visited a terrorist training camp.
On his return to the UK, he stopped drinking, taking cannabis and chatting up women in bars and instead began hanging around with a mysterious new group of friends.
He grew a beard and began wearing Middle Eastern dress.
Two people who knew him are said to have called the police counter-terrorism hotline five years ago to raise concerns that he thought “being a suicide bomber was OK”. A senior US intelligence official has claimed members of his family had warned police he was dangerous.
A friend of Salman said he had returned from a three-week trip to Libya just days ago.
It was also claimed last night that he had travelled by train from London to Manchester on Monday in advance of the attack raising suspicions he may have met co-conspirators.
French interior minister Gerard Collomb said Abedi is believed to have gone to Syria and had proven links with ISIS. Labour’s Khalid Mahmood said the case demonstrated the weakness of Britain’s border check system after staff had been reduced by 50% since 2010.
He said: “We don’t have and have never had secure borders. This is an individual who has come back with devastating effect.”
Sources said Abedi was friends with Raphael Hostey, also known as Abu Qaqa al-Britani, who served as an Isis recruiter.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was “likely” Abedi was not acting alone.