Was poisoner on the same f light to UK as daughter?
A RUSSIAN on the same flight into the UK as Yulia Skripal before returning to Moscow a few hours later is being investigated over the attack.
Britain’s spy agencies have red-flagged an individual who arrived at Heathrow on the Russian state-owned Aeroflot flight AFL2570 from Moscow that landed at 2.32pm on Saturday, March 3.
The Russian then got a flight to Moscow after a few hours on British soil, raising questions as to the purpose of the short visit, security sources told the Mail. The Skripals were hospitalised on March .
A senior Whitehall source said the individual had been identified as a ‘person of interest’ by intelligence agencies, and pointed to more than one person being investigated. It is not clear if the person is suspected of delivering the agent, administering the Novichok, or of being linked to the attack in some other way.
The source said: ‘We certainly believe it’s possible those responsible were out of the country within hours.’
It comes after Salisbury MP John Glen, who was party to Cobra briefings on the attack, suggested there were questions to be asked about those who were on the plane with Miss Skripal.
Counter-terrorism officers have previously avoided referring to any suspects with regards to the poisoning. The fact a suspect could not be immediately identified pointed to the prospect of the nerve agent being delivered by post or in Miss Skripal’s suitcase.
But it has now emerged intelligence officials believe the would-be assassin, or assassins, may have fled back to Moscow within hours of delivering the lethal agent. Security sources also said the searching of an Aeroflot plane that landed at Heathrow Airport on Friday – described by the Government as ‘routine’ – was based on intelligence.
Mr Glen said: ‘We’ve got to think about is the overall picture ... Who was on the flight with Yulia Skripal? Did that person return to Moscow a few hours later? What happened in the run up to the events here? That would have involved other people – it wouldn’t just involve Novichok coming here. How did it arrive here?’
Last night security sources confirmed the passenger list for Miss Skripal’s flight were among files being examined by intelligence agencies. It is not clear if the individual was known to the security services beforehand or if they are linked to the Kremlin.
Sergei Skripal had given his daughter access to a £150,000 ‘secret bank account’ just days before he was poisoned, a relative has revealed. He passed power of attorney of the funds, held in an unknown Russian bank, to his daughter in late February, said his niece Viktoria Skripal.