Yasin Hassan Omar, Mukhtar Said Ibrahim, Ramzi Mohammad and his brother Wahbi Muhammad, and Osman Hussain â these are the names of the five failed suicide bombers who tried to create murder and mayhem on the London transport system on July 21. Fortunately, they are all in custody, four of them at the top security Paddington Green police station in Edgware Road, and Osman Hussain in Rome, awaiting extradition to Britain. Police sources now confirm that the fifth would-be bomber was Wahbi Mohammad, the brother of Ramzi Mohammad, who disposed of an explosive device similar to the other four in bushes in Workwood Scrubs, not far from the housing estate where he was arrested Friday.The immediate manhunt is over, but according to Scotland Yard, there are many more months of hard work ahead. Police are in the process of meticulously building up the prosecution case against the suspected five would-be suicide bombers, and they are careful not to do anything that might jeopardize a fair trial. They are recording every interview with the suspects, keen to find out how deep the terrorist network is; if there are any other active cells in the UK; if so, how many; and the identities of the key individuals behind the plot. One source stressed that there are over 1,000 more leads still to be followed up, but Londonâs police are already overstretched and simply do not have the time nor the resources to do this at this moment. Police are quick to defend the half million pounds of extra funding a day spent on policing London after the first wave of suicide bombings on July 7.
This funding, stressed John OâConner, a former Scotland Yard commander, âis not sustainable indefinitely. It has been good value and money well spent.â However, he disagreed with Lord Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police chief, and London Mayor Ken Livingstone, that the terrorist threat and situation can go on for the next 20 years. Security officials believe there were many more involved in plotting the bombings and who are still at large. âWe must not be complacent. The threat remains and is very real,â warned Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yardâs Anti-Terrorist Branch, yesterday. Of the 28 people arrested in the aftermath of the 7/21 attempted suicide bombings, 12, including the five would-be suicide bombers, are still detained.
What is both a cause for concern and revealing about these five young men is that according to their neighbors and football mates they were all normal in their dress and behavior, going about their daily business and life. They were always polite and helpful. However, in the last six months, this behavior changed and they started becoming very religious and started wearing âtraditional dressâ. They became inward-looking and kept to themselves. There wives and womenfolk similarly took to wearing the head-to-toe hijab. What police are now trying to piece together is what and who precipitated this sudden slide into extremism and suicide bombing.