Hugs all round as alleged Isis loyalists get bail in Verulam bombing case

Eleven men accused of orchestrating the bloody Verulam mosque attack and a wave of alleged Isis-inspired firebomb attacks were granted bail in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Farhad Hoomer along with Ahmed Haffejee‚ Thabit Mwenda‚ Mohamad Akbar‚ Seiph Mohamed‚ Amani Mayani‚ Abubakar Ali‚ Abbas Jooma‚ Mahammed Sobruin‚ Ndikumana Shabani and Iddy Omari were arrested in a coordinated Hawks raid on October 5.

Hoomer, the man the state painted as the alleged ringleader of the group, was released on R200,000 bail.

Haffejee will have to hand over R150,000 to the state to secure his release. Mwenda, Mohamed and Mayani were released on warnings while Akbar, Ali‚ Jooma, Sobruin, Shabani and Omari had bail set between R3,000 and R5,000.

Magistrate Irfaan Khalil said that while reasonable suspicion had been raised by the state, its case was not watertight.

“The applicants all challenged the identification parade with [the] overall objective that, on the balance of probabilities, the state’s case is weak and likely to fail.

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