Jihadi terror suspect says ‘I smell war’, hours before raid
EXCLUSIVE: The first photo of one of the men seized in a dawn raid in London. Channel 4 News understands he arrived back to the UK on Sunday and tweeted ‘I smell war’ hours before the police raid.
One of the four men seized on Tuesday by police investigating a suspected plot by an alleged Islamist-terror cell, was named by the Sun newspaper as being Tarik Hassane, who they say is nicknamed “The Surgeon”.
Channel 4 News now understands that Hassane was seized in a raid on a flat in Princess Alice House, north Kensington, west London early on Monday morning.
Analysis of social media by Channel 4 News has found tweets which may suggest that Hassane entered through border control on Sunday afternoon, as he tweeted that he had arrived at the UK Border and that had been on a plane.
‘Oi lads … I smell war’
Writing on Twitter on Monday hours before his arrest he wrote on Twitter: “Oi lads … I smell war.”
His friends later defended the tweet, stating it was just banter between friends.
An identification card containing a picture of the man, found by Channel 4 News, was confirmed by neighbours as being that of Tarik Hassane.
Hassane had been studying medicine at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan, and commenced his studies there in September 2013 according to his tweets.
He recently tweeted a picture of an edition of Churchill Pocketbooks of Surgery, where he hints at being at a location in “east Africa” just one month ago.
In other tweets, Hassane and his friends make regular reference to Ladbroke Grove, where the raids took place.
It is unclear if he has been in Syria but on an Ask.fm page linked to Hassane, he stated that he is not aligned with Islamic State militants. No charges have been brought against any of the men.
Neighbours told of loud explosions in the middle night when the raids took place: