Posted on 08/11/2006 9:08:37 AM PDT by knighthawk
A pizza shop owner and a biochemist. An airport worker and the son of a political official. Husbands and fathers. Students as young as 17. Meet the faces of terror. Meet the madmen next door.
Outside the view of friends, family and neighbors, a group of suburban men were allegedly plotting a terror campaign to rival - and even exceed - the bloodshed of 9/11.
But in a series of raids that began before dawn yesterday, British police arrested 24 people - most of them sons of Britain, most of them never suspected of any wrongdoing by their neighbors. Several communities awoke yesterday to the stunning news that a murderous terror plot, with suspected ties to Al Qaeda, was hatched right in their midst.
The Bank of England froze the accounts of 19 of the suspects early today.
Among those taken into custody yesterday were Amjad and Assad Sawar, brothers who ran a car import business.
"They're good mates of mine and Muslims. One has a baby girl and he loves his wife to bits. These guys would never do any terrorism," said a stunned neighbor, Ashiq Rasul.
The two brothers lived quietly in High Wycombe, a commuter town northwest of London, British media said. Nine homes near the Sawar house were evacuated as police searched it and emerged with large boxes filled with confiscated items.
"They are perfect neighbors," said Gerald Stevens, 84.
The Sawar brothers are in their 20s, of Pakistani descent and are big cricket fans. The two had become "very religious" in recent years, neighbors said.
Phil Redfern, who went to school with the pair, said they began to shun mainstream mosques a few years ago and instead frequented a smaller mosque behind a nearby Islamic bookshop.
Another suspect, Don Stewart-Whyte, 21, also of High Wycombe, converted to Islam just six months ago and recently married. He appeared to have settled down after a youth filled with drugs and booze.
"He admitted to me he used to be a naughty boy, smoking spliffs and drinking, but he is all right now. I can't believe this is happening," Shauib Bahatti, whose son went to school with the suspect, told London's Daily Mirror.
Stewart-Whyte lives with his mother, who was away on vacation when the terror squad swept in and hauled him away in handcuffs.
Oliver Savant, a taxi driver and now a suspect in the mass murder plot, was another convert to Islam. He's 25 with a pregnant wife.
"I'm outraged. We're shocked and angry that we're being put through this. He's married, a newlywed expecting a baby. Our parents are traumatized, as you would expect," his brother Adam told the Mirror.
Retired fireman Paul Kleinman, 66, said he's known Savant, of Walthamstow, northeast of London, "since the day he was born.
"He was a very polite young man. Oliver started putting on Muslim robes and growing his beard long a few years back," he told the Daily Mail. Other friends said he had begun to go by the name Ibrahim.
The youngest suspect, Abdul Muneem Patel, was only 17.
Also arrested yesterday were Waheed Zaman, a biochemistry student, and Amin Asmin Tariq, who works at London's Heathrow Airport.
A close family friend told the Daily Mail that Tariq, a security guard, had been arrested in a dawn raid in a quiet residential street in Walthamstow.
The 23-year-old had recently married and had a 3-week-old baby named Axa. He was described by neighbors as the "least religious" of the close-knit Muslim family, the paper said.
Zaman is a well-known political activist and head of the Islam Society at London Metropolitan University, the paper said.
"He loves fish and chips and Liverpool Football Club," Zaman's shocked sister Safeena told The Times of London.
In Walthamstow, Wendy Phillips, 31, said two men were arrested near her home. They had bought a house for cash - unusual in expensive London - and just moved in last month, she said. A "SOLD" sign still stood in front.
"It's scary when it's on your doorstep," Phillips said. "You start wondering who you're living next door to." Neighbors thought two bearded men, possibly from north Africa or Pakistan, lived in the home.
Amar Singh, 17, stood on the corner across the street from the house talking animatedly with friends about the alleged plot.
"I'm shocked," Singh said. "This is usually a quiet area."
Police also arrested more suspects at two other homes in Walthamstow.
Neighbors said one of those man arrested was Usman Saddique, 24, who runs a pizza shop. He was believed to be a childhood friend of Ibrahim Savant.
The 24 suspects arrested so far in the air terror plot were mostly British Muslims of Pakistani descent, officials said yesterday.
"They were in most cases second- and third-generation Kashmiri-Pakistanis," House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-L.I.) told the Daily News.
Kashmir is a disputed region bordering Pakistan and India, which both countries have fought over. Al Qaeda has ties to militant Kashmiri separatists and operates training camps there.
Now let_me_see, where does a mööselimb go to become 'very religious', hmmmm... Oh, that building down there on the corner?
Unfortunately the MSM won't make that difference clear but if a Nut job claiming to be a Christian bombs an abortion clinic tomorrow, we'd never hear the end of it. AND every story, every mention in the press would associate the criminal with Christians.
The only place you'll find religious fundamentalism to be harmful is with those who worship the blood thirsty demon, allah.
Oh well, maybe they'll figure it out one day.
"Suprise,suprise suprise!" -Pvt. Gomer Pyle, USMC
Until the "fine" people of Islam stand up and clean their own house, we're not going to be able to stop this insanity. I do not see any Muslims who are able to admit that they have a problem. We on the outside cannot tell the difference so they'd better get their ducks in a row and weed out the blasphemers (yep, that's what they are) so the religion can get it's good name back because they don't have one now. And until that happens, they're going to have to rely on outsiders to do the weeding and sometimes a daisy get caught up amongst the weeds. So wake up and smell the coffee!
baby bottles.... apparently he really loved his wife to bits... it was part of the plan
Oh,that's nice!
Knight Hawk, you are right on the money. I yearn to see high profile Muslim leaders denounce the Jhiad terrorist. Are we to remain politically correct and remain silent? or should we realize that these dumb(without voice) leaders are sleepers just waiting to help enjoy the spoils of WWIII.
ping
Unbelievable!! I mean, who could even imagine such a thing?
carolyn
Sound like you've been doing a bit of that yourself.
Did you know the spell checker recognizes and accepts islamofascists? :-)
Round football? Pizza? Stamp collectors?
"A pizza shop owner and a biochemist. An airport worker and the son of a political official. Husbands and fathers. Students as young as 17. Meet the faces of terror. Meet the madmen next door."
""They are perfect neighbors," said Gerald Stevens, 84."
"They're good mates of mine and Muslims. One has a baby girl and he loves his wife to bits. These guys would never do any terrorism," said a stunned neighbor......"
_________________________________________
Sounds so familiar.
They say the same things about "Serial Killers"!
"I don't think we are out of the woods yet."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I'd say not.
http://www.wnem.com/Global/story.asp?S=5269589
http://www.wboy.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=12983
PS: There sure are a lot of 'em in England, aren't there.
But there are a lot MORE of them HERE.
*shudder*
It looks like they're up to something. They're up to no good. And WE continue watching "the big game", the prime time teevee, drinking our beer, "consuming" our pr0n, whooping it up, having a high old time.
We are the perfect target for a dedicated enemy. And when he strikes, we'll sit there, stunned, asking why no one warned us, why no one saw it coming.
All hail George Santayana, who must be up to ten thousand RPM by now.
no, thanks.
I guess you'll simply never believe that the majority of American Moslems are loyal to their country. Sorry you feel that way, but that's just the way it is. By the way, do you actually know any American Moslems? Personally, I mean?
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