The third London Bridge attacker has now been named by police as Youssef Zaghba. A 22-year-old Moroccan-Italian, Zaghba was stopped at Bologna Airport in March 2016, heading to Turkey on a one-way ticket. When he was questioned at the airport, he is said to have made his intentions clear: ‘I’m going to be a terrorist,’ Politico are reporting that he said.
Having been stopped in his tracks, Zaghba was then investigated in Italy on suspicion of terror offences. But last April, proceedings were halted and no further action was taken against him. The Italian authorities are saying that their work did not stop here though, with Corriere Della Sera reporting that they tipped off the British about the possible risk posed by Zaghba, who subsequently travelled to London to work in a Pakistani restaurant. It seems he ended up staying put – until the terrible events of last Saturday night unfolded.
So what happened? And what went wrong? The British security forces are claiming there is no evidence that this warning was passed on to them. Details remain sketchy but what seems likely to have happened is that Zaghba’s name was placed on a watchlist which, to put it bluntly, was not being watched. Scotland Yard released a statement naming the third London Bridge attacker (after his name had already emerged in Italy), in which they said Zaghba…
‘is believed to be an Italian national of Moroccan descent. He was not a police or MI5 subject of interest.’
So, to summarise, Zaghba was picked up by the Italian authorities, who claim they tipped off the British about the risk he posed. Yet somewhere along the way, that warning was lost – or wasn’t properly examined. Whatever happened, there are now serious questions for the authorities to answer about what went so badly wrong.
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