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Jalal brothers: terror pranksters’ confession

YouTube

YouTube

The Jalal brothers, at the centre of controversy because of prank terror videos, have confessed their videos are completely staged.

The brothers have revealed family and friends are used to play the parts.

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“Our latest drive-by shooting was staged and they were all actors,” the brothers told Sky News.

A young girl in the video was played by their cousin, nine-year-old Mary Jalal.

“I was acting,” Mary said.

She also claimed she’d been told to hug her ‘father’ in the drive-by video, then run away.

The Jalal brothers say they mulled over their decision to tell the truth about their pranks because it might damage their so-called ‘brand’. They confessed because they felt it was a better option than being despised for terrifying a child.

On Thursday, police arrested and later charged three people after they posted the series of YouTube prank videos.

The brothers Max and Arman Jalal, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been charged with public nuisance.

One of the brothers mocked police on social media, saying: “Prison Break, who gone (sic) stop us?”

A counter-terror expert has warned internet pranks that use hoax threats of violence to play on terrorism fears could have fatal consequences.

The video can be seen below:


Deakin University counter-terror expert Professor Greg Barton said although humour was a good way to examine social issues, internet pranks that went too far “undermine social cohesion”.

“You could in the worst case scenario have someone being badly hurt or killed,” he told The New Daily.

“There are ways that can do this sort of humour that is productive, and in a way that breaks down prejudice … unfortunately this doesn’t make us laugh at ourselves or laugh at prejudice, it works to reinforce it.”

jalal

One prank saw someone jump off a bridge. Photo: YouTube

In one video, a man dressed as a suicide bomber approached a pedestrian on a low bridge before opening his jacket to reveal a fake bomb.

The pedestrian jumped over the side of the low bridge and could be seen landing on his feet in shallow water.

Another saw the unidentified men in a video aim a fake AK-47 at unsuspecting members of the public as they drove around in a white vehicle.

They were grilled on the posts by The Project’s Waleed Aly and panelist Stan Grant in an interview on Wednesday night, before speaking to Today show host Karl Stefanovic on Thursday morning.

Mr Grant, a former foreign correspondent, said mock terrorism could have serious implications.

“I’ll tell you what’s real: I spent 10 years covering war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan right through the Middle East,” he said.

“I stood in the blood of terrorist bombings. And the people that get killed, overwhelmingly, in terrorist attacks are Muslims themselves.

“There is nothing funny about this, there’s nothing real about what you’re doing, it is abhorrent. Do you ever stop and think about the message you’re sending?”

 

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