BLUNDERS LEFT ALL 3 FREE TO KILL
Knifeman trying to fly to Syria told Italians: ‘I want to be a terrorist’. MI6 were tipped off – but he STILL got into UK
A MAJOR intelligence blunder allowed one of the London Bridge killers into Britain despite him being flagged on an international watchlist.
The security services faced serious questions following revelations that Youssef Zaghba was granted entry even after telling the Italian authorities: ‘I’m going to be a terrorist.’
The Italians apparently forwarded the intelligence to their British counterparts when the 22-year-old travelled to the UK just a month later.
But the warnings were not acted on and the Moroccanborn Italian citizen was allowed in unhindered under EU freedom of movement rules.
Citizens of any country in the 28-nation bloc can enter the UK without a visa, just as Britons can travel freely around the Continent.
The revelation will add to concerns that UK counter-terrorism officials missed a string of opportunities to thwart Saturday night’s atrocity, in which seven innocents were killed.
Another member of the Islamist terror gang, Khuram Butt, 27, was investigated by MI5 and police for his extremist views two years ago.
Security chiefs have already embarked on a potentially humiliating investigation into why they missed the danger posed by Salman Abedi, the Manchester Arena suicide bomber.
The authorities were repeatedly told that the 22-year-old, who had Libyan parents, was a danger to the public before he blew himself up at a pop concert last month, killing 22 fans including children. Yesterday Theresa May said MI5 needed to review its handling of intelligence into the London Bridge attack following revelations about the killers’ known terror links.
Zaghba was stopped at Bologna Airport before attempting to travel to Istanbul on a oneway ticket on his way to Syria in March last year.
Questioned about his intentions, the fanatic replied: ‘I’m going to be a terrorist.’ Concerned by his blunt response and agitated manner, security staff immediately called police and he was blocked from flying.
After discovering Islamic State propaganda videos on his phone, an investigation was launched.
But the Tribunale del Riesame, an Italian review court, decided
SECURITY BLUNDER 1
there was insufficient evidence to charge him.
The Italian authorities returned his phone and passport but allegedly sent an intelligence file to the British security services the following month after he travelled to the UK.
They also listed him as a suspected ‘foreign fighter’ on international databases, understood to include the EU-wide Second Generation Schengen Information System, known as ‘SIS II’, which has details of 250,000 wanted or missing people.
The system issues alerts about the most dangerous on-the-run criminals as well as suspected jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq. The Home Office was under mounting pressure last night over what action it took to prevent Zaghba’s entry.
The beleaguered department has powers to block foreign nationals who have travelled to fight with so-called Islamic State ‘on the basis of the threat they pose’.
When EU nationals arrive at the border, their passport details should also be checked against a watchlist of suspected terrorists and foreign criminals compiled by the UK Border Force.
The Home Office declined to comment ‘while an investigation is ongoing’.
Scotland Yard insisted Zaghba was ‘not a police or MI5 subject of interest’. The finger of blame appeared to instead point at MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, which may not have passed on the information it received.
Whitehall insiders said that claims the Italians passed on intelligence to the UK should be ‘treated with a pinch of salt’.
One said: ‘The Italians have made a mistake on their own patch and now they are desperate to cover their own backs.’ Zaghba was born in Fez in January 1995 to an Italian mother and Moroccan father. He is believed to have been a regular visitor to Britain.
The authorities suspect he held several short-term jobs in London, including at a hotel and restaurant. In the early hours of yesterday morning, police raided a £300,000 terraced house in Ilford, East London, an area where Zaghba in one online profile claimed to live.
The landlord, who lives close by, declined to comment on who was living there, saying it was a ‘police matter’.
Zaghba claimed to work as a housekeeper at the Marriott Hotel in London’s Regents Park in 2015. Managers said they had no record of his employment, but a cleaner claimed to recognise his photograph and said he worked as a security guard.
Last night Italian counter-terrorist agencies played down the extent to which they shared information about Zaghba. An Italian source said the information had been uploaded on to a European database.