Bomber gave taxi driver Koran on journey to Manchester Arena and said 'Pray for me'
A TAXI driver has told how suicide bomber Salman Abedi gave him a Koran on his final journey to Manchester Arena, saying: "Pray for me."
Abedi, 22, handed over the pocket-size book to driver Tariq Nadeem, a public inquiry into the atrocity heard yesterday. Within hours, Abedi had detonated a shrapnel-packed device in a rucksack, murdering 22 people at the end of a Ariana Grande pop concert. Mr Nadeem told the inquiry in Manchester that he picked up Abedi from Piccadilly railway station at about 7.30pm on May 22, 2017. During the journey, Abedi collected the rucksack from his flat.
“I said to him, ‘It’s too heavy for you, isn’t it?’ to which he replied, ‘I’m weak aren’t I, brother’.” He said Abedi kept the rucksack on his back all the time, including when he got out to use a cash machine.
Mr Nadeem went on: “As we were driving, he said, ‘Can I give you a gift, brother?’ He then handed me a copy of the pocket Koran. It was used.
“I said thank you. Being Muslim, the Koran is very dear to us. I was very thankful to him and he said, ‘Please pray for me, brother’.”
Mr Nadeem said he had received gifts from customers, but never a Koran. The men swapped names and Abedi said he was called Suleman.
Earlier in the journey, Abedi had given a £5 note to the driver, the inquiry heard.
Mr Nadeem said: “The meter was showing £8 and something. He had already given me £5 and as a gesture of goodwill – because he had given me a gift – I said to him, ‘I’m not taking any more money from you’.”
The inquiry continues.