More time to quiz terror suspect
DETECTIVES have been given more time to quiz the suspect in the alleged terror attack outside the Houses of Parliament.
Salih Khater, 29, was arrested by armed police after ploughing into cyclists and pedestrians in the silver Ford Fiesta he was driving before crashing into a security barrier.
The British national, who is originally from Sudan, was first held on a terrorism charge, but later further arrested for attempted murder.
He remains in custody at a south London police station and Scotland Yard said Westminster Magistrates’ Court granted the force a warrant to detain him until Monday.
His brother, Abdullah Khater, told the BBC he was a “normal person” and that their family, who are originally from Darfur, were in a “state of shock”.
The Metropolitan Police’s counter-terror head Neil Basu said on Tuesday that Khater was not co-operating, while the priority of the investigation team continues to be to understand the motivation. The force said officers have searched two addresses in Birmingham and one in Nottingham, and continue to search a third in Birmingham.
Residents who knew Khater have described him as a quiet man who frequently visited the Bunna Internet Cafe on Stratford Road in Birmingham.
One customer, who would only give his name as Adam, said he had been served coffee by Khater and that he was a polite and apparently humble man.
“I am still in shock. I’ve known him for about a year and he is a very, very good man,” he said. “I can’t see him doing anything stupid. He was polite, humble and he kept himself to himself. The whole community is upset. I can’t see it not being an accident – I couldn’t see him hurting a fly, never mind a human being.”
Ahmed Abdi, originally from Somalia, said Khater was regularly at the cafe, and was a “very quiet” man who “never spoke” and drove a small, old white car.
The 43-year-old, who recognised his image on the news, said he knew the man as Salih and had known him for around a year and a half.
A police search is thought to have taken place about a mile from the cafe, at a tower block in the Highgate area, where a plainclothes officer prevented reporters from entering the 10th floor landing.
Khater was previously an accountancy student at Coventry University, a spokesman said, confirming he attended between September last year and May, although Khater failed the first year of his course and his enrolment was terminated.
The Facebook page for a man called Salih Khater says he lives in Birmingham, works as a shop manager, and has studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology. It has subsequently been disabled.
Birmingham Central Mosque said members of the local community believed Khater may have travelled to London for an appointment to obtain a visa to travel to Sudan.