Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
Assam,
Sikkim,
Madhya Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
|
MI5 knew about Abdulmutallab’s terror links since 2006 | Three years before the Nigerian bomber tried to blow up the Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, British intelligence service MI5 knew that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had 'multiple communications' with Islamic extremists in Britain. The Times quoted senior counterterrorism
officials as saying that Abdulmutallab was “reaching out” to extremists whom MI5
had under surveillance while he was still a student at University College London.
However, none of the information was passed to American officials. It is now that
British officials have passed a file to their US counterparts on Abdulmutallab’s
repeated contacts with MI5 targets, who were subject to phone taps, email intercepts
and other forms of surveillance. According to a senior Whitehall official, the
MI5 had conducted a quick assessment of Abdulmutallab and concluded that he was
not a threat to national security. “There had to be a judgment made depending
on the nature of the relationship as to whether there was any threat. Someone
will have judged: okay, [he is] noted but if there was no evidence of a threat,
[they would] move on,” said one official. One of the radical preachers believed
to have inspired Abdulmutallab is the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who
is based in Yemen . Abdulmutallab first encountered Awlaki while he was studying
Arabic in Yemen in 2005. US intelligence officials are now investigating the nature
of contacts between the two men. |
|
|
|
|
|