MI5 warned by FBI that Salman Abedi plottting terrorist attack
British intelligence agency MI5 was reportedly warned by its US counterpart that Salman Abedi was planning an attack on UK soil, three months before his suicide bombing in the foyer at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
Six days after Abedi killed 22 people, authorities have searched several apartments in an investigation that extends to Libya, where his relatives live.
On Monday, police arrested a 23-year-old man in Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex, south of London, “on suspicion of offenses contrary to the Terrorism Act,” according to a statement.
The investigation into Abedi, who was known to security agencies and had just returned from Libya before the bombing, has so far led to the detention of 14 people.
Two other people were arrested and released, authorities said.
photo via British officials’ handout
On Sunday, police arrested a 19-year-old man in Gorton and a 25-year-old man in the Old Trafford area of Manchester on suspicion of terror offenses.
“In early 2017 the FBI told MI5 that Abedi belonged to a North African terror gang based in Manchester, which was looking for a political target in this country,” a security source told The Mail on Sunday.
“The information came from the interception of his communications by US federal agents, who had been investigating Abedi since the middle of 2016, and from information unearthed in Libya, where his family was linked to terrorist groups.
“Following this US tip-off, Abedi and other members of the gang were scrutinised by MI5. It was thought at the time that Abedi was planning to assassinate a political figure. But nothing came of this investigation and, tragically, he slipped down the pecking order of targets.”
British officials have confessed that at any time there are 500 active terror investigations with at least 3,000 terror suspects.
“The intelligence services are still collecting information about (Abedi) and about the people around him,” Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.
“But I would not rush to conclusions … that they have somehow missed something.
“What this reminds us is the scale of the problem that we have, the enemy that we have, Daesh, that is trying to weaponize the young people in our society.”
Daesh is another name for ISIS, the terror group that claimed responsibility for the attack.
