Vote fraud mayor links to family of five held by terror police: TowerHamlets Council funded suspects cycling charity while shamedpolitician was in office
14 Aug 2015
- Lakhdar Djelloul, 51, wife Janice, 53, and three teenage daughters arrested
- Officers suspect pair may have been preparing to flee country to join ISIS
- Couple ran cycling charity funded by council under mayor Lutfur Rahman
- Neighbours described them as ‘respectable’ pillars of the local community
A couple at the centre of a Scotland Yard terror probe ran a cycling charity funded by Tower Hamlets Council under its shamed mayor Lutfur Rahman.
Lakhdar Djelloul, 51, his British Muslim convert wife Janice, 53, and their three teenage girls were arrested when officers swooped on their East London home.
Officers suspect the pair, who have eight children, may have been preparing to flee the country to join Islamic State in Syria.
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But their arrests shocked neighbours, who described them as ‘respectable’ pillars of the local community who appeared to have dedicated their lives to helping young people.
The couple established the first cycling club in Tower Hamlets in 2008 and went on to receive tens of thousands of pounds in public and charity funding.
Among those to contribute to their work were charities Comic Relief and Help A London Child, as well as taxpayers via Tower Hamlets Council and City Hall.
Their charity has become a popular cause in the East London borough, winning grants and awards from a range of charities and public bodies.
It was featured in an issue of East End Life, the magazine dismissed as a ‘propaganda sheet’ which was published by Rahman until he lost his post in a vote-rigging scandal.
The couple and their three teenage daughters, Hafsa, 19, Zuhayda, 17, and Salsabil, 16, were arrested by counter terror police on Wednesday morning. The family, who live in four-bedroom end-of-terrace house worth more than £500,000, were held on suspicion of possessing information for terrorist purposes.
Among the material seized is understood to be advice from Islamic State recruiters on how supporters can travel to Syria.
Terror police swooped on the home in Bethnal Green early on Wednesday and remained there until late into the night. A neighbour said: ‘The police were here until half nine [on Wednesday], taking stuff from the house and going in and out.’
Another neighbour added: ‘I’m in shock, we know the family so well and this must be a huge mistake. They are not extremists, they are just a normal, respectable Muslim family like us. Our kids play together, I have never had any worries about that.
‘All the kids are really wholesome, they go cycling with their parents, they go kayaking on the canal, they are members of the tennis clubs. They never seemed unhappy here.’ Last night Mr Djelloul scuffled with a photographer after returning to his home with a police officer to pick up a bag.
Witnesses said he broke away from his police guard before barging into the woman. He later apologised for his actions.
Salsabil was earlier arrested on July 2 on suspicion of preparing an act of terrorism.
A neighbour said police spent ‘all day and all night guarding the house’ after the first arrest. She said: ‘You could see they had lifted up the floorboards and they were carrying out all kinds of things, papers, computers and wires.’
Mr Djelloul is an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists. The twice-married father has a number of social media accounts where he posts about IS and his hatred of Israel. Last July he posted: ‘100 per cent of the world hate the Jewish state ISRAHELL.’
In 2011, his wife Janice signed a petition supporting London extremist Adel Abdel Bary, one of Osama Bin Laden’s lieutenants who is now in a US prison.
Public records reveal that Tower Hamlets Cycling Club has received grants of up to £3,500 each from public bodies. The money was used to fund cycling trips around the area as well as to the New Forest and the creation of a BMX club in 2011.
The couple, who have been married for 18 years, won community club of the year in 2013.
Rahman, who was Britain’s first elected Muslim mayor, was kicked out of office earlier this year after he was found guilty of systematic ballot rigging.
The Bangladeshi-born former Labour council leader and the independent mayor of Tower Hamlets since 2010, was banned from standing for public office or even voting for five years.
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