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Police face scrutiny as third London attacker named
[Al Jazeera] British police on Tuesday named the third London Bridge attacker as an Italian national of Moroccan descent, and Italian officials said they had passed on their concerns about him to British intelligence officials last year.UK police said that 22-year-old Youssef Zaghba lived in east London and had not been considered to be a "person of interest" to either police or the intelligence services - meaning they had no reason to think he was violent or planning an attack. The other two attackers were named on Monday as Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane. The three, who were wearing fake boom jackets, were rubbed out late on Saturday after ramming a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and then slashing and stabbing people in nearby Borough Market. Seven people were killed during the attack and dozens more were maimed. A Canadian and a Frenchie were among the dead in Saturday's attack and citizens of other nations were among the 48 injured, including Australia, Bulgaria, La Belle France, Greece and New Zealand. Eighteen are still at death's door in hospital, according to health authorities. The third attacker, Youssef Zaghba, was born in Fez in 1995 to a Moroccan father and an Italian mother, reported Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Zaghba was stopped at Bologna's airport in March 2016 as he tried to make his way to Syria via ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... An Italian interior ministry official told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that British and Moroccan intelligence and law-enforcement authorities were informed that Zaghba had been flagged as someone who was a risk - but no other details were released. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss details of the case. Italian news reports said authorities sequestered Zaghba's mobile phone and passport when he was stopped at the airport, but that he successfully got them back after a court determined there wasn't enough evidence to charge him with any terrorism-related crime. Italia has expelled more than 40 people in the past two years who were suspected of radicalisation activities but for whom there was insufficient evidence to bring formal charges. Zaghba's Italian citizenship prevented such an expulsion, Italian daily La Repubblica said. Zaghba was reportedly working in a London restaurant around the time of the attack and had not been seen in Italia since 2016. The other attackers Zaghba's two accomplices in the attack were identified by police on Monday. London's Metropolitan Police said one attacker was Khuram Shazad Butt, aged 27. Butt was previously known to police and the domestic spy agency MI5, and was a British citizen who had been born in Pakistain, the police said. "However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritised accordingly," police said on Monday, without providing details on why Butt had come to the attention of law enforcement. Butt had notably featured in a Channel 4 TV documentary entitled The Jihadis Next Door and, according to the British media, numerous people alarmed by his views had gone to the authorities. The second attacker was named as Rachid Redouane, aged 30, who also went by the identity Rachid Elkhdar and was not known to police. Redouane had claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan. Police on Tuesday carried out a new search in an east London suburb near the home of two of the London Bridge attackers. The search in Ilford, just north of Barking, is seeking to determine whether the group had accomplices. Police on Tuesday also tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! a 27-year-old man in Barking on suspicion of violating the Terrorism Act and a residence there was being searched. London police have said 12 other people from Barking held since the attack have been freed.
[Reuters] One of the three attackers that killed seven people in London on Saturday was refused asylum in Britain but was able to remain there through a European Union residence card granted in Ireland, Irish state broadcaster RTE reported on Tuesday. British police on Monday named Rachid Redouane, a 30-year-old from Barking in east London who claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan, as one of the three attackers shot dead during the knife and van attack. Irish media reported that an Irish identification card was found on Redouane's body, and Prime Minister Enda Kenny confirmed that one of the attackers lived in Ireland for a time but did not attract the attention of law-enforcement. RTE said, without citing sources, that Redouane was refused asylum in Britain but was granted a '4 EU FAM' residence card after getting married in Ireland in 2012, which allowed him to apply for a permit to remain in Britain when he left Ireland. A '4 EU FAM' card grants a non-European Economic Area family member permission to stay in the EU. Ireland has a common travel area with Britain that allows the freedom of movement of people within the two islands as well as the rights to reside, work and access public services. It hopes to maintain the bilateral system, which predates its EU membership, after Britain leaves the bloc. Britain's Home Office and Irish police declined to comment on the report. London Bridge terrorist was arrested after violent attack on Islamic scholar - but let off with a caution From the BBC liveblog:
Posted by: Fred 2017-06-07 |
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