Police in Northern Ireland have arrested a man from Derry in connection with alleged activities in the Syrian civil war. The PSNI confirmed on Thursday that they had detained Eamon Bradley after a raid on his home in the Creggan area of the city.
The 25-year-old is being questioned at the PSNI’s serious crime suite in Antrim town. In July the PSNI conducted searches at Bradley’s house and confiscated a number of mobile phones.
Bradley travelled to Syria after informing his family he was off on holiday to Turkey. The 25-year-old Muslim convert then joined Syrian rebels battling against the country’s president.
Since then he has been pictured with AK-47 assault rifles and riding on a white horse dressed in militia clothing. It is not known whether he has aligned himself with the terror group that calls itself Islamic State. Listed among the books he likes on his Facebook page are the Qur’an and Medicine of the Prophet.
On a blog this summer, Bradley wrote that he was not afraid of death and that he was prepared to become a martyr. He also told how he had battled drugs and was disillusioned with education as a youth. He said he was “empty inside”, and had attempted to overdose on prescription drugs.
“It was around this time Allah Most Great showed me the way,” he wrote.
