Ahmed Hassan, 18, charged over Parsons Green Tube terror attack
Written by News on 23/09/2017
A teenager has been charged in connection with the Parsons Green Tube terror attack last Friday.
Ahmed Hassan, of Sunbury, Surrey, has been charged with attempting to murder people travelling on a District line train and possessing explosives.
Hassan also faces a charge of using the chemical compound triacetone triperoxide – known as TATP – to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.
The 18-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
No one was killed when the crude home-made bomb failed to properly detonate, but 30 passengers were injured.
Met Police chief Cressida Dick said that the "very, very dangerous" device was packed with "large quantity of explosives and was packed with shrapnel".
Hassan was arrested in Dover on Saturday morning on suspicion of planting the device.
He is believed to have spent time in the care of Penelope and Ronald Jones, from Sunbury-on-Thames, who received MBEs for services to children and families in 2010.
The couple have been highly respected foster parents for almost 40 years – looking after approximately 300 children, including eight refugees.
Two other men – aged 25 and 30 – remain in custody in connection with the attack.
The 25-year-old, who was arrested in Newport, has been named by Sky sources as Mahdi Rahimi – a Kurd also known locally as Bilal Mohammed.
The 30-year-old was also detained in Newport at a "halfway house" for asylum seekers, according to neighbours.
Three men – aged 21, 48 and 17 – have been released from custody without charge.
Yahyah Farroukh, 21, was detained at a fried chicken shop where he worked in Hounslow, west London, on Saturday.
Like Hassan, Mr Farroukh is also understood to have spent time in the care of Mr and Mrs Jones.
Mr Farroukh’s mother is said to have suffered a heart attack after hearing of her son’s arrest, and is understood to be in a critical condition in a hospital in Egypt.
The 48-year-old man was also understood to have been arrested at the Newport "halfway house".
The 17-year-old had been arrested in Thornton Heath, south London, just after midnight on Thursday after officers carried out a search.
The head of the Met Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, Dean Haydon, has described the investigation as "fast moving", adding: "A significant amount of activity has taken place since the attack."
Police are still searching one address in Surrey and two in Newport, Wales, in connection with the attack.
(c) Sky News 2017: Ahmed Hassan, 18, charged over Parsons Green Tube terror attack
