London Bridge gang ‘plotted attack in KFC’
Two of the killers thought to have worked in East Ham branch while third was regular customer
THE London Bridge terror attack could have been plotted at a KFC restaurant in east London, it has emerged, following claims that two of the gang worked there at the same time.
Suspected ringleader Khuram Butt, 27, is believed to have met Moroccanborn jihadists Youseff Zaghba and Rachid Redouane while working as an office manager at the fast food outlet on the high street in East Ham in late 2015.
Zaghba, 22, is thought to have worked in the restaurant after moving to London when he dropped out of university in Morocco, while Redouane, 31, who lived a short walk away in Barking, was a regular customer.
As police desperately try to piece together the backgrounds of the three men, it was also revealed that the FBI compiled a dossier on Butt after becoming concerned about his extremist behaviour.
The restaurant, which could now become a key feature of the investigation, is run by a franchise company called Auriga Holdings.
Last night a spokesman for the company confirmed that Butt had worked there for three years between 2012 and 2015 as an office administrator.
The spokesman initially denied that Zaghba had worked there, but later admitted it was possible he had been employed in some capacity, and confirmed that the company was co-operating with the police investigation.
Scotland Yard has been urgently trying to understand how the three men came into contact with one another and how the deadly van and knife plot was hatched.
It is not known whether the restaurant was where they first met, or whether their paths had previously crossed at a local mosque.
It has been claimed that Butt and Redouane were also regulars at male-only swimming sessions at a council-run leisure centre in Newham, east London.
Butt, who is widely thought to have been the ringleader of the attack, was already known to the police and security services, having been placed under surveillance in 2015, while still working at the restaurant.
It has now been claimed that he was also on the radar of the US intelligence services, adding to the list of missed opportunities to catch the terrorist before he struck.
The FBI was made aware of serious concerns about Butt by an al-qaeda supergrass.
The report on Butt identified him as a senior leader of al-muhajiroun – a terror group banned in the UK – and an al-qaeda sympathiser.
It is not known whether the FBI passed the report on to the Met’s counter-terrorism unit or to MI5. Both Scotland Yard and the FBI declined to comment.
Butt was picked out as a senior leader of al-muhajiroun by Jesse Morton, an al-qaeda recruiter convicted in the US who turned FBI informant for a commuted prison sentence.
Mr Morton said he had first become aware of Butt as a low-level “administrator” for al-muhajiroun as early as 2011 but that by 2015 he had risen through the ranks following the arrests of its senior leaders including the notorious hate preacher Anjem Choudary.
Mr Morton, who trawled web chat rooms for the FBI in the hunt for Islamist extremists, said: “I noticed that Khuram had expanded his influence inside the al-muhajiroun network.
“In my report, I mentioned him [Butt] specifically under his Islamic name online and his activity on Facebook predominantly.”
Mr Morton said that during the year he was tracking al-muhajiroun online, Butt had become more influential.
The group, banned after the London Underground bombings in July 2005, has been linked to a quarter of all terrorism offences and attacks in the UK.
The FBI study will add to the growing list of missed chances to stop Butt. He appeared in a Channel 4 documentary posing in front of the black flag of Isil and was detained by police but not arrested. He was arrested in January this year for an attack on an Islamic scholar but let off with a caution.
Last night police made three more arrests and carried out two search warrants in east London in connection with the attack.
Five days before it the trio were pictured laughing outside the Ummah Fit-
ness Centre in Ilford where Butt worked, while footage has emerged of them all stabbing a man in Borough Market as armed police arrived.
Butt’s family have said they “are shocked and appalled by the actions of Khuram and his associates”.
KFC said it had no record of Zaghba working for the company, but it remained possible he had been employed in some other capacity. KFC added: “We will cooperate fully with the police’s ongoing investigation and cannot comment any further at this stage.”
‘I noticed that Khuram had expanded his influence inside the network’
It is a reflection of London’s cosmopolitan nature that all but one of the eight victims of last Saturday’s terror attack were foreign nationals. Some lived in the city; others were visiting. This is, therefore, more than a domestic matter. Other countries whose citizens may be caught up in such atrocities are entitled to ask whether the UK is doing enough to deal with the jihadist threat in its midst.
And the answer to that question is troubling. Yet again the perpetrators were known to the police and MI5 but judged not to pose an immediate threat. Given that the security agencies have identified thousands of Islamist fanatics it is inevitable that some of their judgments will, with hindsight, be found wanting with tragic consequences.
But this case is different. One of the London Bridge killers, Khuram Butt, was so open about his support for the jihadist cause that it is impossible to understand why he was not placed on a so-called TPIM order, which would at least have involved an element of monitoring. Only six of these orders are currently in use. Why so few? In addition, the Italian government placed another of the killers on a terrorist watchlist, kept him under surveillance and stopped him travelling to Syria. So why was he allowed to come to the UK?
Theresa May has said she would jettison human rights laws if they prevent the Government dealing with the terrorist menace. But she needs to explain why the law as it already exists has not been properly applied. Moreover, the authorities also must consider whether procedures for identifying victims are working properly. The delays have added to the trauma already experienced by their families.