Tarik Abdurrahman Hassane, one of four men arrested on suspicion of involvement in an ISIS-linked terrorist plot, is a medical student who recently returned to the United Kingdsom from Sudan.
Hassane had sought a place at King’s College London before opting to study in Sudan.
A King’s College spokesman told daily Telegraph newspaper that Tarik Hassane applied to King’s in 2013 for a place in a medical programme and a pharmacy programme. “Following our standard selection process, he was made a conditional offer for both but did not achieve the required grades for either,” he said.
Tarik Hassane, 21, is reported eventually to have chosen to study at a medical academy in Sudan. He was arrested along with three others in armed raids in London on Tuesday. The group is suspected to have been in the early stages of planning a “significant” attack on UK soil on behalf of ISIS, or the Islamic State.
The student lived at Princess Alice House, an estate near Ladbroke Grove, West London, with his mother, 56, a teaching assistant, and his younger sister, since 2010. The family is believed to be of Moroccan origin.
Hassane suggested that he preferred to study in Sudan as it is a Muslim country, although he ultimately wanted to live in London and returned to the UK in the holidays.
His university in Sudan, the University of Health Sciences and Technology, was founded by the Khartoum State Health Minister Professor Mamoun Himeda, who among the leading Islamist cadres in Sudan.
Photo: The suspect had released this photograph of his student ID card via Twitter prior to his arrest