TERRORIST RADICALISED IN MELBOURNE
The Sri Lankan terrorist had spend time living in Melbourne and left an “angry and crazy” extremist who was investigated for links to Australian-born Islamic State operative Neil Prakash, it’s been revealed.
Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, 36, studied aerospace engineering at Kingston University in southwest London from 2006 to 2007 before travelling to Melbourne for a postgraduate degree.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed one of the Sri Lanka attackers spent time in Australia on a student and graduate skilled visa, departing in 2013.
The Australianreports that Mohamed was previously one of the subjects of a terrorism investigation by Australian security authorities after intelligence emerged linking him to Prakash, 27.
Prakash, who was born in Melbourne, gained infamy for his role in IS propaganda videos that urged young Muslims to fight the West. Speaking in English with an IS flag visible behind him, he encouraged attacks in Australia and praised a knife attack on two police officers by 18-year-old Numan Haider. His Australian citizenship was revoked in December and he remains in a Turkish prison awaiting trial for terrorism offences.
It’s unknown how much contact the pair had but there was at the very least an “online” link between them, according to The Australian. There is no evidence Mohamed and Prakash knew each other while they were both in Melbourne.
Mohamed’s sister Samsul Hidaya told Mail Online the suicide bomber returned to his home country “angry and totally crazy”, berating relatives for trimming their beards. He had developed extreme religious views, she said, and became quiet and withdrawn.
CCTV footage shows Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who was reportedly radicalised in Australia, outside the Tropical Inn Hotel before the detonation. Picture: Sky NewsSource:Supplied
“My brother became deeply, deeply religious while he was in Australia,” she said. “He was normal when he went to study in Britain, and normal when he came back.
“But after he did his postgraduate in Australia, he came back to Sri Lanka a different man.
“He had a long beard and had lost his sense of humour. He became serious and withdrawn and would not even smile at anyone he didn’t know, let alone laugh.”
Australian-born Islamic State terrorist Neil Prakash remains in a Turkish prison awaiting trial on terrorism offences. Picture: AAP /Supplied.Source:AAP
The Islamic State released an image of the suspected Sri Lanka suicide bombers although it is not clear which is Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, who studied in Australia.Source:Supplied
His sister’s comments came as Sky News released chilling CCTV footage showing the bomber outside the Tropical Inn Hotel in Dehiwala before the explosion.
Ms Hidaya said her brother, one of six siblings, had always been religious, but was a music lover and a “funny boy”. That all changed after his time in Australia, she said, and his new devout attitude “created tension” within the family.
The Easter Sunday terror attacks killed 359 people and left 500 injured.Source:Twitter
“It makes me sad to think what happened to him,” she said. “Before he died he would not let his children listen to music and he never said a friendly word to anyone.”
Mohamed began working in property and married the landlord’s daughter, Shifana, after he returned from the United Kingdom and before he headed to Australia. He had his first child in Australia before returning to live in an affluent Colombo suburb in the family’s mansion, which was raided on Monday.
His younger sister married a Sri Lankan New Zealander and moved to Auckland with their mother.
