Terror suspect ‘on way to obtain visa to visit Sudan’
Warrant granted to detain car crash man
COUNTER-TERRORISM OFFICERS have been granted a warrant to detain Westminster car attack suspect Salih Khater until Monday.
The 29-year-old British national of Sudanese origin was arrested at the scene on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, Scotland Yard said.
The warrant was granted yesterday afternoon following searches at addresses in Birmingham and Nottingham.
The former accountancy student at Coventry University was a frequent visitor at the Bunna Internet Cafe on Stratford Road in Birmingham, where he was described as a polite and apparently humble man, who “wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
Ahmed Abdi, originally from Somalia, said Khater was regularly at the cafe, and was a “very quiet” man who “never spoke.”
The keen footballer failed the first year of his course at Coventry University and his enrolment was terminated in May.
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 since been disabled and is no longer publicly available on the social network.
The silver Ford Fiesta used in the attack was driven from Birmingham to London late on Monday and spent almost five hours in the Tottenham Court Road area. It was then driven around the Westminster area for more than 90 minutes before it crashed into a security barrier just before 7.40am on Tuesday.
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.
Footage showed the car’s approach towards Parliament, where it crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with cyclists before entering a small road and crashing into a security barrier.
Three people sustained nonlife-threatening injuries.
One man was treated at the scene while another man and a woman were taken to hospital but were discharged by Tuesday evening.
Images posted online showed a man wearing a black puffer jacket being led away in handcuffs from the car as armed police swarmed the scene. There was nobody else in the vehicle and no weapons were found, police said.
Witnesses described an emotionless driver who ploughed through cyclists who “were thrown everywhere” in what they said appeared to be a deliberate act.
A trustee of Birmingahm Central Mosque Nassar Mahmood said inquiries in the local Sudanese community suggested Khater did not worship at the mosque and had shown no signs of radicalisation.
Mr Mahmood said: “Like the rest of the community of the UK, the people of Birmingham and the Birmingham Central Mosque are surprised, shocked and saddened by the incident at Westminster. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been injured.”
Sudanese community member Ali Mohamed said Khater “was trying to apply for a visa,” adding: “We really don’t know why he got into that incident.”