Stop flow of foreign cash to jihadists, May demands

Gordon Rayner Political editor

Robert Mendick chief reporter WORLD leaders must help prevent terror attacks in the UK that are being financed by foreign funds, Theresa May will say today.

The Prime Minister will tell world leaders at the G20 summit in Germany they can “change the balance of the fight” against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) by stopping the flow of cash to both major and “lone wolf ” terrorist plots.

It has emerged that police are investigating whether the Manchester Arena suicide bomb plot was financed by funds sent from extremists abroad.

Mrs May will urge countries including Saudi Arabia – named in a report this week as the chief funder of terrorist attacks in Britain – to share intelligence and technology that could detect even the smallest payments to wouldbe terrorists.

The Prime Minister believes that while the security services are able to share intelligence about the physical movements of suspects and are increasingly tracking their activities online, the monitoring of their finances remains a weak spot.

Speaking ahead of the summit, Mrs May said: “We know that the terrorist threat is evolving. We have seen the threat spread out of Syria and Iraq – into other countries and online. As we

deny physical space to terrorists to operate in theatre, we must outpace the terrorist methodology as it develops to attack other vulnerable targets and increases inspired attacks.

“We must therefore combat the threat from every angle. This includes taking measures against permissive environments for terrorist financing, and monitoring the dispersal of foreign fighters from battle.

“We can change the balance of the fight when we work together and I am confident that through these efforts we will defeat the scourge of terrorism and our collective values will prevail.”

Diplomats from Saudi Arabia will be at the meeting in Hamburg, and Mrs May hopes that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who will also be at the table, can set aside their differences and sign up to an agreement that will make the global financial system “an entirely hostile environment for terrorists”.

Mrs May’s agenda for the G20 will include a one-on-one meeting with President Trump at which she will discuss the West’s response to North Korea’s latest missile test, as well as trade, migration and security.

Yesterday police in Manchester disclosed they believed Salman Abedi, who killed 22 people when he blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert in May, had help with the plot. Previously it had been thought he acted alone but police are now examining possible funding – as well as terrorist training – in Libya.

Abedi, who has family in Libya, spent “many months” planning the attack at the Manchester Arena, travelling to and from Libya and renting properties in the north west before he struck, police said.