These are the names of 20 of the 24 suspects being held by the police, over
the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. The first 19 of them
listed have had their assets frozen by the Treasury.
Tayib Rauf, 21, St Margarets Road, Birmingham
Brother of Rashid Rauf, a Briton who was arrested on Wednesday in the Punjab,
the day before the British raids. Rashid's arrest is thought to have
triggered the UK swoop.
Neighbours told the Birmingham Mail that Tayib Rauf was often away from
home studying an Islamic course in Greater Manchester. He and younger
brother Maroof Rauf are said to have joined the family business run by his
father - believed to be a cake business called Classic Confectionery
Supplies - after leaving Washwood Heath School.
The British-Pakistani family’s home is listed as the office address for the
business. There is also a small Islamic school in the back garden, where
children aged between seven and 10 were taught the Koran and Arabic.
Ikram Ulhaq, whose 12 year-old daughter received lessons in basic Islam, told The
Daily Telegraph: "I don’t know what happened there, all I know is
they are peaceful, religious people. I’m sure they’ve got the wrong people."
Uniformed police officers remained on guard outside the house today but
searches of the address are now believed to be complete.
Umir Hussain, 24, and Nabeel Hussain, 21, of Templeton Avenue,
Waltham Forest
The two brothers were both arrested at their family home. A neighbour said: "I
have known them for a long time They are a family of three boys, a girl, and
their parents.
"When they were younger I sometimes gave them a lift to school because
their father was in Pakistan for a few months. That was about three years
ago.
"I have lived here for about 10 years but they have been here longer. All
the kids and their mum are really polite and I can’t believe what’s
happened, I just hope it’s some sort of mistake."
The neighbour, who did not want to be named, said that she used to drive them
to the Rushcroft High School when it was raining as a favour for their
mother.
Neighbours told The Times that the father's name is Fazal and he is a
former London bus driver. They said Umir is unemployed.
Another neighbour, who lives opposite, added: "They were Western like us
but then suddenly a few years ago they got religious and grew long beards
and wore traditional Muslim clothes.
"They used to seem like wheeler dealers. They also used to sell bottles
of fizzy drinks and sweets from the house when they were younger.
"The mother never spoke to anyone and the daughter was always with her.
"They used to send us Christmas cards every year but stopped that when
they became religious."
Waheed Arafat Khan, 24, London E17
Known as Arafat to his friends and gave the appearance of being perfectly
integrated into Western society.
Neighbours described him as thoughtful, considerate and polite and were
astonished to learn that he had been arrested over the alleged plot. Teresa
Bailey said that his father had died seven or eight years ago when he was in
his teens and he had been brought up by his mother with his four sisters.
"The family has been here for years, he used to offer to help me when he
knew I was housebound," she said. She thought he had been to university
as had his sisters, at least one of whom had studied law. Arafat’s father
died while the family was on a holy pilgrimage to Pakistan.
She said: "I saw his mum in the back garden on Tuesday but I haven’t seen
him for about a fortnight when he got into a car with some other young men.
It looked like he was going out for the evening.
"He was dressed casually, sometimes he would dress in western clothes and
sometimes in traditional Pakistani robes. He was clean shaven. I always
thought he worked in the City."
Irene O’Shea, another neighbour who has known Arafat since he was a baby,
said: "He was very nice and very polite and thoughtful. I saw him not
so long ago, he had been to see his father’s grave. He said to me ‘I sat on
my dad grave, it made me feel so bad’. It was a few months back."
Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24, of Albert Road, Walthamstow
Neighbours told reporters that the family have lived at this address since
1978. Mr Saddique is believed to be a childhood friend of Ibrahim Savant,
another suspect arrested in yesterday’s raids and is reported by the Daily
Mail to work at a pizza takeaway.
He has two brothers Kashif, 28, an investment bank IT consultant, and Sajid,
30 a teacher.
A neighbour told the Evening Standard: "The older sons are both
married, each with a toddler. I am not sure what Usman does, but he is the
one who has the traditional Islamic beard."
Waheed Zaman, 22, of Queens Road, Walthamstow
Mr Zaman is a biomedical science student and a well-known political activist.
He is head of the Islam Society at London Metropolitan University and is
reported to have spoken at Muslim rallies and written a number of articles
about Islam for the student magazine.
His older sister, Safeena Zaman, 24, defended her brother in an interview with The
Sun. She said he was proud of being British.
She said: "He loves fish and chips and Liverpool Football Club and his
favourite TV programme was Only Fools and Horses. He even wanted to join the
police as a forensics expert.
"As part of his work with the Islamic Society at university he would
organise Muslim events and would often give talks. He is a great believer in
the importance of integration between our community and the Western world."
According to a report in London's Evening Standard Mr Zaman and other
suspects in the area attended the Edinburgh Road Primary School.
Waseem Kayani, 28, of Plomer Green Avenue, High Wycombe
Steve Sweeney, a neighbour, told The Times that Mr Kayani worked as a
taxi driver for a private car hire firm. He said that Mr Kayani changed two
years ago after returning from a trip to Pakistan. He came back with a full
beard and a shaven head. He also changed his body shape and physically
bulked-up.
Neighbours told the Daily Mail that they first saw Mr Kayani several
years ago. "He was in a full-length white robe, had a full beard, very
short cut hair and a little white hat. He did start to get a bit Westernised
but he kept himself to himself".
Assan Abdullah Khan, 22, London E17
Mr Khan, 22, has three brothers, one of whom is mentally disabled and a
sister. They live together with their parents in a small house.
Neighbour Abdullah Ahmad said that the family had lived there for over five
years but he didn’t really know them. He added that the police were taking
video footage of the garden and the house.
Ibrahim Savant, 26, of Folkestone Road, Walthamstow
Mr Savant recently become a devotee of a very strict form of Islam and changed
his name from Oliver to Ibrahim. He is married and his wife, Atika Sidyot,
is reported to be pregnant.
He is the company secretary for a music firm called Positive Fokus in
Limehouse, East London. A member of staff at the company which supplies PA
and audio/visual equipment, said: "Ibrahim was a freelance book-keeper
and did some work for us. I only met him a couple of times."
His brother Adam, a company director, was at work yesterday but refused to add
to earlier comments when he described himself as "outraged, shocked and
angry" at the arrest.
The Sun reported that Ibrahim is an avid football fan and supports
England and Arsenal. He lives at home with his English mother Marilyn and
Iranian father Ibrahim, whose name he is believed to have taken when he
converted.
Osman Adam Khatib, 20, of Wellington Road, Walthamstow
Known locally as Adam. William Frank, 22, a neighbour, described him as "someone
with a good heart" but said that he may have been influenced by others
at his mosque, Masjid ’e’ Bakr Trust.
Mr Frank, a graphic designer, said: "There were a couple of people that
may have influenced him because he is a really nice guy. His dad is from
Mauritius and his mum was born in Hackney".
William’s father, Ossie, said that he had lived in the street for 30 years and
his neighbours had lived there even longer. He said two boys and two girls,
who are teenagers and in their 20s, live at the address with their parents.
The father works locally and would come home for lunch most days. His wife
Sarah used to work in a local Tesco store.
Ossie Frank told The Times that Khatib children were: Adam, 20 and
Sareena, 20, and two smalller siblings about 9 and 6.
Amin Asmin Tariq, 23, Ravenswood Road, Walthamstow
The security worker at Heathrow airport had recently married and had a
three-week-old baby called Axa. Neighbours saw him being led away in
handcuffs from the family home just after 5am yesterday.
The Daily Mail reported that the couple share the house with Mr Tariq’s
father Hussain Tariq, who owned a cleaning business until he retired. His
mother, Khalida Tariq, and sister Kashif, 27, were also said to live at the
house.
Shazad Khuram Ali, 27, of Micklefield Road, High Wycombe
Mr Khuram Ali is believed to be friends with Assad Sarwar, another of the
suspects arrested by police. The Evening Standard said that Mr Khuram
runs a car import business, called AKZ, which trades from the address.
Umar Islam, 28, (born Brian Young), of Chairborough Road, High Wycombe
Mr Islam is believed to have converted to Islam two or three years ago. His
mother, Sylvia Young, reacted with shock and surprise today when confronted
regarding her son’s arrest. "I don’t even believe it,"
she said.
His parents’ next door neighbour Parkhash Dhanjal, 62, said that he is married
to a Muslim woman with whom he has a young child.
Mrs Dhanjal said the Young family were West Indians who are understood to be
Christian by belief. Mrs Dhanjal said he began wearing traditional Muslim
dress to attend a local mosque and grew a beard following his conversion.
She added: "In my heart I don’t think this boy is bad. He is a nice boy.
The family are a very nice family and Brian is a very good boy."
Assad Sarwar, 25, of Walton Drive, High Wycombe
Mr Sarwar was arrested at his family’s three-bedroom, semi-detached former
council house. Neighbours said that a family with three sons and two
daughters had lived in the house for the past 15 years.
Mr Sarwar, who was married, was thought to still live there with his wife, his
brother and his sister-in-law. A third brother had moved out.
Mushi Raja, 23, who attended Sir William Ramsey School with Mr Sarwar, told
the Evening Standard that instead of attending the main mosque in the
Totteridge area he had started going to an Islamic centre with a school and
bookshop attached.
Abdul Muneem Patel, 17, London E5
The youngest of the suspects. He was seized in the Clapton area of London.
Tanvir Hussain, 24, London E10
Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 36, Stoke Newington
Cossor Ali, 24, London E17
Abdullah Ali, 26, London E17
Not on the list of named 19 suspects, but among the 24 arrested and
questioned
Abdul Waheed (born Don Stewart-Whyte), 21, of Hepplewhite Close, High
Wycombe
One of two suspects known to have converted to Islam, which he is said to have
done six months ago, when he also changed his name to Abdul Waheed.
He is the son of a Tory Party agent, Doug Stewart-Whyte, who died nine years
ago. The art student went to the prestigious Dr Challoner’s Grammar School
in Chesham.
Friends told The Sun that he had not been able to hold down a job in
the past and had worked at a hairdressers and a local branch of Curry’s. He
is reported to have turned his back on a life of drink and drugs when he
converted. He had also recently married.
One neighbour told the newspaper: "He was quite a troubled teenager who
would go drinking and was often in trouble but nothing serious.
"About six months ago he said that he was converting to Islam because it
all made sense and had just clicked with him.
"He recently married but we don’t know much about the wife and hardly
ever saw her. She would appear in the street from time to time wearing a
scarf round her head."
The newspaper reported that Mr Waheed had converted to Islam with his sister
Heidi, who lives in the south west of England.
He was arrested at home which he shares with his 50-year-old mum, a PE teacher
who was believed to be on holiday in Scotland.
