Westminster ‘terror’ suspect is ‘NOT radicalised and has no links to terrorism’

COPS think the Westminster 'terror' suspect is 'NOT radicalised and has no links to terrorism', it has been claimed.

Specialist officers are instead investigating whether Salih Khater, 29, has "personal motives" for driving through cyclists and ramming a security barrier in a Ford Fiesta.

The claim was made by ABC News just hours after Salih's older brother brother has told The Sun Online he is “100 per cent sure he is innocent” and insisted the family “loved England”.

ABC reporter James Gordon Meek tweeted: "UK security officials tell @abcInvestigates that Salih Khater, whose odd attack in a Ford Fiesta rattled tourist-clogged London this week, does not appear to be a terrorist despite the counterterrorism police taking lead in the incident near a symbolic/iconic UK target."

Mustapha claimed he’d “never been radicalised” but admitted he’d been troubled since the death of their father and brother last year.

Salih is being held on suspicion of terrorism and attempted murder but has not been charged.

Cops have until Monday to charge him, release him or seek another extension.

Police and security services have not yet found any link to extremist material and it was said that he was not known to police prior to his arrest.

Speaking to the Sun Online today from Sudan, his older brother Mustafa insisted Salih didn’t have any links to any terror organisations.

He said: “Salih is a sincere kid, all his aims in life are studying, finishing studying, and finding a good job which gives him and his family a future, he knew how the situation is here in Sudan, with a dictatorial regime.

“He’s never become radicalised. Never.

“He would never do it because we are from Darfur, and extremism is our enemy, as it is your enemy and as it is the enemy of Islam. We love England. We are not Arab, we are African, from west Sudan.

“I’m 100% sure that my brother is innocent of what he’s accused of. It was an accident. I’m sure he’s innocent.

“I don’t think he meant to hit people, I think it was an accident.”

Scotland Yard’s head of counter-terrorism Neil Basu said the priority for investigators was to understand the motive of the attack.

It’s thought he had travelled down to London from Birmingham to apply for a visa to visit his home country. The embassy in St James's Park is less than a mile from Westminster.

But a source at the Sudanese Embassy in London said staff had "no recollection" of Khater and that "no-one knows anything about him."

Mustafa said: “I don’t know anything about the police and reports of him refusing to co-operate. Police in Sudan have not contacted us.

“He was badly affected by the death of our father and brother, Abdalrahman Adam Khater, in 2017. He was hoping to come back to Sudan for a short time.”

The 33-year-old, who lives in the Sudan capital city of Khartoum, added: “There’s no reason for him to do this. He doesn’t have any mental health issues.”

Three other brothers and two sisters live in Sudan and the family are said to be in a state of shock.

Khater studied electrical engineering at Sudan University of Science and Technology in Khartoum before coming to Britain – via Libya - alone as an asylum seeker around 2010.

He spent two years working as a farm hand in Libya but left as the country teetered on the brink of civil war.

In 2010 he enrolled on an English language course at what is now Birmingham's South & City College.

A year later he became a licensed security guard and moved to Nottingham, where he worked as a picker and packer at a bakery for 11 months.

He returned to Birmingham’s South & City College in 2014 to study science but when he left the college in 2017 he was upset as his English wasn’t good enough to get on the proper course.

Later that year Khater enrolled at Coventry University to study accountancy but failed his first year and in May his "enrolment was terminated", a spokesman said.

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Footage aired by the BBC showed the car’s approach to the Houses of Parliament, where it crossed into oncoming traffic and hit several people before entering a small road and crashing into a security barrier.

One man was treated at the scene, while another man and a woman were taken to hospital but were discharged by Tuesday evening.

There was no one else in the car and no weapons found, police said.