Three of terror plot suspects 'converted to Islam'
At least three of the men arrested on suspicion of being involved in a terror plot to blow up a series of transatlantic planes had converted to Islam, it emerged today.
Ibrahim Savant, from Walthamstow, east London, changed his name from Oliver when he converted, according to neighbours.
The 25-year-old student, whose Muslim wife is reportedly pregnant, was arrested at his family home in Folkestone Road.
He is believed to have taken his Iranian father’s name when he converted and immersed himself in religious books.
The second convert was called Don Stewart-Whyte until he changed his name to Adbul Waheed after converting to Islam.
The third suspect believed to have converted to Islam is 28-year-old Umar Islam who was also arrested in High Wycombe.
Elsewhere in the Buckinghamshire town, 27-year-old Shazad Khuram Ali was arrested after anti-terror squads stormed his home in Micklefield Road.
Neighbours said the Victorian semi had been lived in by an Asian family for around 15 years and that they did not interact much with fellow residents.
At another High Wycombe address, a semi-detached house in Plomer Green Avenue, an Asian family was led outside by police but, according to onlookers, no-one was brought out under restraint.
Waseem Kayani, 29, was arrested and the property was sealed off by police ready to be searched.
Neighbour Brian Ashby, a 41-year-old business manager, said the family, who have a number of daughters, were “one of the quietest in the neighbourhood”.
He added: “They were led out of the house and were carrying bags of clothes, not under arrest, and they left in their own cars.
“I heard one of the policemen say five or six times to the father: ’Thank you for your cooperation’.”
Another of the suspects, Assad Sarwar, 26, was arrested at his family’s three-bedroom, semi-detached ex-council house in Walton Drive, High Wycombe.
Locals said a family with three sons and two daughters had lived in the house for the past 15 years.
Sarwar, who was married, was thought to still live there with his wife, his brother and his sister-in-law. A third brother had moved out.
Former friends said the men used to be well known in the area, but had not been seen very much in recent years.
Philip Redfern said: “They are very quiet, they keep themselves to themselves, which is very strange because this is a very tight community.”
One of the suspects worked at Heathrow Airport as a security man.
Amin Asmin Tariq, 23, was about to set off for work when he was arrested at his terraced home in Ravenswood Road, Walthamstow.
He had recently become a father and had worked at the airport for the past three years.
Waheed Zaman, 22, was arrested when officers burst into his family home in Queens Road, Walthamstow.
According to reports the biochemistry student had been watching television with his sister Safeena.
Zaman was known to be a devout and active Muslim who was head of the Islamic Society at the Metropolitan University in London.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, described Zaman as a “good guy”.
She said: “He’s a good guy, he’s a superman of Walthamstow. He has a good rapport with lots of people. I’m really upset to think this could have happened to him. He is studying biomedical science at university and loves to play football, he supports Liverpool. I don’t think he would have been mixed up in anything.”
The youngest of the suspects is 17-year-old Abdul Muneem Patel, who was seized in the Clapton area of London.
Muhammed Usman Saddique, 24, was at his family home in Albert Road, Walthamstow, when police raided the terraced home.
