Syrian refugee held in London tube bombing is released

A Syrian refugee arrested in connection with the recent London subway attack was released without charge on Thursday, the British police said.

No further action is due to be taken against the man, Yahyah Farroukh, 21, who was arrested by an undercover police squad late Saturday night outside the chicken shop in West London where he worked.

Five men remain in custody on suspicion of involvement in the explosion, including a 17-year-old arrested early Thursday in a South London suburb.

More than 30 people were hospitalized on Sept. 15 after an improvised bomb exploded on a packed subway train at the Parsons Green station in West London — an attack that revived memories of the 2005 attacks on mass transit in London that killed more than 50 people.

The Parsons Green attack was the fifth terrorist attack in Britain this year, and the first to target the country’s mass transport systems.

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Originally from Damascus, Mr. Farroukh fled Syria for Egypt in 2013, before taking a smuggler’s boat to Italy and then making his way to Britain, his brother, Aladdin, said in an interview. Mr. Farroukh then studied English at West Thames College for more than 18 months.

He may have aroused the suspicions of investigators because he lived for a time with a pair of foster parents, Ronald and Penelope Jones, who also housed an 18-year-old detained in connection to the attack.

Mr. Farroukh’s activity on social media showed no hints of extremism. He often posted the emblem of the Free Syrian Army — a moderate, secular coalition of fighters opposed to the Syrian government — and joined Facebook groups devoted to pop stars like Justin Bieber.

Mr. Farroukh’s release came as a relief to his family, who had maintained his innocence.

“I can’t describe my happiness,” his brother, Aladdin, said in a Facebook call on Thursday evening. “He managed to send me a text message saying he was out and that he would be in touch soon. We knew all the time that he was innocent.”

Aladdin criticized those who had presumed his brother’s guilt. “We are a hard-working family, and we would never get involved in such acts,” he said. “We are consumed of the daily affairs of our lives, and our record has been as white as snow.” (New York Times)