Parsons Green: Bucket bomb detectives get more time to question terror suspects

The alleged Parsons Green Tube attacker may have built his bucket bomb in the garden shed at his foster home as counter-terrorist officers were granted more time to question two suspects. Detectives are investigating whether or not the shed in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, could have afforded the 18-year-old the privacy he needed to construct the device. The unnamed refugee, who is suspected of detonating the improvised explosive device (IED) on a District Line train injuring 30 people last Friday (September 15), had been fostered by Ronald Jones, 88, and his wife Penelope, 71. The couple were appointed MBEs by the Queen in 2010 for services to families after fostering more than 250 children. A Syrian-born second suspect, identified by his employers as Yahyah Farroukh, 21, had also reportedly been fostered by the Joneses, although he is no longer in their care. He was arrested in Hounslow, west London around midnight on Saturday night (September 16), just hours after officers from Kent Police detained the teenager at the departure area of Dover ferry port, which sparked an evacuation of Europe`s busiest ferry hub. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) now has until Thursday (September 21) to hold Mr Farroukh and until Saturday (September 23) to question the younger man. Both men were arrested under section 41 of the Terrorism Act and the MPS was granted warrants for further detention by Westminster Magistrates’ Court. They both remain in custody at a South London police station. Spelthorne Borough Council leader Ian Harvey said he understood an 18-year-old Iraqi orphan was living with the couple, having moved to Britain, aged 15, after his parents died. The couple’s home was subject to an armed raid on Saturday morning. Two other Surrey properties – in Sunbury-on-Thames and, reportedly a chicken shop in Hounslow – were searched as part of the investigation, said the MPS. CCTV images emerged from ITV showing a man carrying a Lidl supermarket bag 80 minutes before Friday’s rush-hour blast. A MPS spokesperson said the force is “aware of the footage” but added it is “not prepared to discuss [it] further at this time”. Images posted on social media following the Parsons Green attack appeared to show wires protruding from a flaming bucket inside a plastic Lidl carrier bag on the floor of a carriage. A key strand of the investigation has focused on CCTV as British Transport Police officers helped to trawl through footage to establish who planted the device, and when and where it was placed on the train. The MPS said it has identified 121 witnesses.. More than 180 videos and pictures have been sent to them by the public. Over the weekend under Operation Temperer, UK troops had been dispatched to key sites across the country to free up armed police officers after the country`s terror threat level was raised to its highest point. But on Monday (September 18), the ‘critical’ stage was downgraded to ‘severe’ as MPS Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley confirmed the military support under the operation was being “phased out through the week”. Home Secretary Amber Rudd played down the pronouncements of the so-called Islamic State (Daesh), suggesting it was “inevitable” the terror group would “reach in and try and claim responsibility”. She said: “This has been a year like no other. We have seen five serious attacks and six that were foiled by the police.” MPS Commissioner Cressida Dick, who travelled by Tube on Saturday and visited Parsons Green Tube station, said the bombing had been “cowardly and indiscriminate”, adding: “London has not stopped after other terrible attacks and it will not stop after this one attack. “Officers and staff from throughout the Met have been called in to provide extra shifts and yet again I am hugely proud of their response. “I have joined officers out in central London, meeting Londoners and visitors. It is a simple message, but a powerful one, to see London getting on with its business enjoying the weekend and everything the city