UK-based Libyan drugs gang linked to arena bombing
A LIBYAN gang operating a UK drugs ring has been linked to the Manchester Arena bomb plot.
Salman Abedi, 22, carried out the atrocity which claimed 23 lives, including his own, at an Ariana Grande concert four years ago.
Police believe he had help as he prepared the bomb.
One suspect was reportedly allowed to fly out of the country while still under investigation after the attack.
Concerns are growing that a wider network may also have evaded justice.
Only one person, Abedi’s younger brother Hashem, has been charged and sentenced in connection with the bombing in May 2017.
Libyan gangsters received numerous calls from Salman Abedi days before he went to the arena, according to the Sunday Times.
Builder Steve Howe, of Oldham, whose wife Alison died in the blast, said: “We need anyone involved in that bomb to be rounded up. The
last thing I want is for some poor family to go through what I’ve been through.”
Gang members were allegedly caught on CCTV checking a car packed with explosives. And one was seen wiping it down the day after the explosion.
Several of the gang attended a meeting where a witness overheard one member say: “Our boy did good at the arena”.
At least seven drug dealers are under investigation by Greater Manchester Police in connection with the attack.
Three men are now refusing to appear as witnesses at the public inquiry into the bombing for fear they will “incriminate” themselves. One is connected to the Libyan organised crime gang.
The inquiry was one of the biggest seen in the UK, at one point growing to a team of 1,000 people.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) received only one file to request a charging decision on an arena suspect, which was for Hashem Abedi.
A CPS spokesman said: “We are ready to make charging decisions on any suspects if requested to by Greater Manchester Police.”