THE man suspected of being responsible for the failed Oval bombing was a hardline Muslim who harangued fellow worshippers and tried to get the imam at his mosque sacked for preaching against terrorism.

Ramzi Mohammed, who was arrested on Friday in west London in connection with the failed July 21 bomb attacks, repeatedly threatened the imam because he held moderate views.

He was part of a small gang thought to be members of Al-Muhajiroun, the extreme Islamist organisation, who prayed separately from other worshippers at the Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre in North Kensington.

Among them was his brother Wahbi, 22, who is being questioned about a rucksack bomb discarded near Wormwood Scrubs in west London.

Ahmed Dahdouh, the imam of the mosque, said the Mohammed brothers were known for their radicalism. He said he was abused by them on several occasions. They called him an “infidel” and “apostate”.

“Ramzi and his brother used to come here in the mosque. There were four or five of them in the group. They caused a lot of trouble,” said Dahdouh.

“They used to pray on their own as they used to think we were not proper Muslims.

“In one of my Friday sermons I once said that Islam forbids terrorism.

“I recall Ramzi later came up to me and told me, ‘Why did you say that? It’s wrong.’

“ He was angry with me. He tried to get me sacked because I disagreed with them.”

Ramzi Mohammed, who is thought to come from Somalia, was arrested at his flat in North Kensington with Muktar Said-Ibrahim, another alleged bomber.

Wahbi Mohammed was arrested less than a mile away at his flat.

Their group distributed leaflets claiming that voting was un-Islamic.

On one occasion they broke a glass display cabinet in the mosque and tore down a poster to replace it with one of their own.

The brothers, who wore white Muslim robes, ran a stall in Golborne Road, Notting Hill, distributing Islamic books and pamphlets.

A fellow Muslim trader said: “I know Wahbi and Ramzi — it’s not the sort of thing you’d expect from them. Wahbi wears glasses, he had a stall here and would talk to people about Islam.

“He’s an extremely nice, peaceful man. He talks to people about Islam in a nice way. He would talk to all sorts of people about Islam.”

He said Ramzi Mohammed would often buy his food at the stall and described both brothers as “charitable” people.

Although Wahbi Mohammed deplored alcohol, he helped people who were drunk.

The trader said: “Wahbi would behave in a better way than me. He would come up and say, ‘This man is drunk, give him a sandwich.’ Ramzi is just as sweet.”

Wahbi Mohammed’s neighbour Tanja Bosthi, a 28-year-old coffee shop worker, said the flat was mostly quiet apart from one day about a week before July 7 when people were heard moving things about late at night.

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