Now police swoop on home of Syrian refugee ,21
Police hunting the Parsons Green bombers yesterday swooped on the home of a foster couple who sheltered a Syrian refugee.
Yahya Faroukh, 21, was showered with love by Penelope and Ronald Jones at their property in Surrey.
Yesterday police searched the building along with an address at Heathrow that Faroukh moved to a few months ago.
He had been placed with the Joneses, who looked after children from war zones, after reaching Britain in 2013.
Soon he was posing for selfies in front of Big Ben and the london eye. other pictures showed him puffing on a cigarette by Brighton pier, at a shopping centre and at the National Gallery in the capital.
Faroukh is believed to come from Al Harah near Damascus – an area that has escaped much of the devastation caused by Syria’s civil war.
He appears to have fled his homeland for egypt, possibly by flying to cairo. on November 23, 2013, he posted a picture on his Facebook page showing a dilapidated fishing boat with the caption: ‘The boat we took from egypt to italy.’ Within a few days he was in croydon, where Britain’s immigration authorities are based.
He was placed with the Joneses at their home in Sunbury-on-Thames and began studying at West Thames college.
on his instagram he wrote about ‘smoking weed every day’ and posted an image saying: ‘For better life you need to have weed, vodka and drugs.’ He also posted antiisrael images proclaiming: ‘Stop israeli terror in Palestine.’ Mohammed Konbus, who met Faroukh during the journey through egypt, said: ‘He wasn’t into all that religious stuff. He was a very sensible person and very mature. i am so surprised that he has been linked to this.
‘i really hope that it isn’t him, but i haven’t seen him in three years, and no one knows what can happen in three years.
‘He doesn’t seem like a guy that would go to that limit. i don’t agree with people being killed so i hope we find out who it was.
‘We moved because the situation got worse in egypt and he wanted to learn english and start establishing his future.’
At christmas 2015, Faroukh appears to have travelled to Scotland to see a cousin, also a refugee, and some children. But 11 weeks ago, on June 29 - a few days after the london Bridge terror attack – his father died back in Syria. it set off a period of intense mourning for Faroukh, who posted sombre images of his father on his Facebook page.
By now he was living in a house in Staines, next to Heathrow Airport. Anti-terror police swooped there yesterday.
Neighbour Pat Hodge, 59, said: ‘My wife and i have sat outside in the communal garden with him in the summer and had ice lollies. He
‘I really hope it isn’t him’
seems like a nice chap. Sometimes his family come down from edinburgh, i think it’s his brother and two nephews.
‘They’re all really lovely to talk to. They’re obviously Arabic but the kids speak with perfect Scottish accents.
‘Sometimes he and his friends go out in the garden with their prayer mats and shisha pipes. i did think it was a bit strange that whenever i leave the house in the early hours of the morning, he’s always up with his friends.
‘His lights are on all night, every night, and often there are three or four of them in there together.
‘Sometimes i wave if i’m walking past the window. They seem to play video games together.
‘The other strange thing is that he’s got hardly any furniture in his house. He sleeps on a mat and sits on the floor most of the time. it’s frightening to think we’ve welcomed him to the neighbourhood.’
Another neighbour, Bob Farwell, said: ‘He’s a nice guy. His brother used to visit from Scotland and they’d sit outside on the grass.
‘He used to have loads of people over at 3 or 4 in the morning and have the curtains closed.
‘He kept himself to himself but would say hello to me.
‘He’d come out for a smoke – he’d never smoke in the flat and he seemed all right.
‘i heard a load of noise at midnight and came out and there were loads of police outside.’