Teenage Tube terror suspect ‘asked people to call him by Muslim name’
A TEENAGER arrested over a suspicious device found on the Tube was considering converting to Islam and had told people to call him by a Muslim name, it was claimed last night.
Damon Smith, 19, who had a distinctive high-pitched voice, also set up fake web profiles posing as women so he could talk with men all over the world.
Last night counter-terrorist police continued to question him at a high security police station in South London.
He was arrested in the street by armed undercover officers in the city, who Tasered him and held him on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism.
Just 24 hours earlier on Thursday a home-made device was found on a Tube train which had just passed through Westminster and under Canary Wharf.
Smith was captured outside London Metropolitan University, in North London, where he had enrolled as a student just three weeks earlier. Officers had also descended on his modern council home he shared with his 47-yearold mother Antonitza.
Neighbours said the pair moved to the capital in May from their home more than 200 miles away in Newton Abbot, Devon.
They said Smith was studying forensic science, although friends in his hometown believed he was on an IT course. The troubled teenager had become fascinated with Islam, could quote the Koran and told people to call him Ismail, neighbours said.
Police have spent more than 72 hours searching the Bermondsey property and have erected a large forensic tent in the garden as they continue to dig it up.
June Youlton, 72, said: ‘He had very slight autism, Asperger’s I think. She [Antonitza] was his support so he didn’t have to go into halls.’ In Newton Abbot, residents were still reeling from a major police operation on Saturday triggered when local officers discovered a suspected bomb.
Counter-terrorist experts commandeered sports pitches to land helicopters and evacuated dozens of homes before declaring the area safe. At the centre of the search was the small £100,000 terraced home where Smith lived with his mother for five years.
Neighbours said Smith was a ‘mummy’s boy’ who was bullied at school because of his feminine voice and he had wanted to be a policeman.
Alan Warburton, 40, said: ‘He just came across as an intelligent kid. He didn’t go to mainstream school for a bit because he used to get bullied because he sounded like a girl. I’ve been here fourand-a-half years and he’s always been lovely.’
In the weeks before his arrest Smith appeared to be enjoying his move to the capital, visiting several tourist spots. Photos posted online also showed Smith posing in a mask adopted by hacking group Anonymous.
Smith, a judo black belt, can also be seen clutching knuckle dusters and what appear to be martial arts weapons.
The teenager was an avid poker player and neighbours in London said he won £500 playing online the night before his arrest.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said the force had worked ‘tirelessly’ to follow up leads since the device was found and was keeping an open mind as to a motive.