A former al-Qaeda operative who became an FBI informant said today that he had raised concerns about one of the London Bridge attackers two years ago.
Jesse Morton told The New York Times that he had alerted his American handlers to the fact that Khuram Butt, 27, had a rising role in online chatrooms run by al-Muhajiroun, the banned organisation led by the hate preacher Anjem Choudary. “My handler got back to me and said it was ‘excellent work’ and forwarded it to the head office,” he said.
Mr Morton, who recruited online for al-Qaeda before being jailed, later agreed to work undercover for American police. He said he did not know whether his concerns were passed to the British authorities. The FBI did not comment.
The Italian authorities have claimed that British intelligence ignored a warning about Youssef Zaghba, 22, the youngest of the three London Bridge attackers. They said Zaghba, an Italian citizen with Moroccan heritage who lived in east London, had been placed on a terrorism watchlist.
The intelligence services, police and the Home Office have been accused of missing opportunities to thwart the attack. The death toll was increased to eight today after police searching for Xavier Thomas, a Frenchman missing since Saturday, recovered a body from the Thames at Limehouse, east London.
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It emerged today that Zaghba had been stopped at Stansted Airport, but only briefly, when flying in from Bologna in January this year. In March last year, according to a magistrate in Bologna, where Zaghba’s mother lives, he was stopped at the city airport and told police: “I want to be a terrorist.”
Italy claims it passed on warnings to British intelligence, and that Zaghba was placed on the Schengen Information System of potential criminals.
The Home Office faces questions after it emerged that the third attacker, Rachid Redouane, 30, from Morocco, had been refused asylum in the UK but was able to remain in the country on an Irish visa after marrying a British woman.
Nóirín O’Sullivan, Garda Commissioner, said he went through a “normal process of immigration” in Dublin but was not involved in a terrorism cell in Ireland. Redouane was refused asylum in the UK in 2009 but his marriage to a UK citizen in Dublin in 2012 — giving him an EU travel permit — has prompted claims Ireland is being used by jihadists as a back door into Britain.
Ms O’Sullivan said: “The indications at this time are that this individual lived in this country for a short period of time, going through a normal process of immigration. Thereafter he left and went with his wife, who is a UK citizen, to the UK and we are satisfied with the inquiries we have made at this time that there is no link to terrorism in this country.”
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The Metropolitan Police today lifted part of the cordon around the scene of the attack, allowing members of the public back onto Borough high street. The market where the terrorists launched their indiscriminate attacks, remains closed.
