All 23 times Manchester bomber Salman Abedi appeared on the radar of MI5 and ... trends now
By the time Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, killing 22 innocents, he had already been on the radar of the security services for seven years.
The Manchester bomber had first been flagged by MI5 in 2010 when he was just 15 years old, the first in a long line of brushes with anti-terror agencies.
These included his decision to travel to Libya and his subsequent evacuation by the Royal Navy, and spies intercepting his apparent connections with ISIS and Al Qaeda.
Below are all 23 times he appeared on the radar of Britain's security agencies from 2010 to 2017:
By the time Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017, killing 22 innocents, he had already been on the radar of the security services for seven years
December 2010: Abedi first comes to MI5’s attention seven years earlier, aged 15, when an address linked to him becomes relevant in an investigation.
2011: MI5 and counter-terror police are told Abedi may be going to Syria but conclude he had briefly gone to Europe.
November 2011: Ramadan Abedi, Salman’s father, subject to ports checks at Manchester airport and Dover on return from Libya. Once, Salman was with him.
December 2013: Abedi mistakenly considered to be an individual seen alongside a ‘subject of interest’ under investigation for planning to join Isis in Syria.
March 2014: Salman is made low-level MI5 ‘subject of interest’ for four months after contacting a suspect by phone.
July 2014: Then 19, Salman and younger brother Hashem, 17, travel to Libya but are evacuated on August 4 by HMS Enterprise, without any security debrief.
August 2014: Suspected Isis recruiter Abdalraouf Abdallah exchanged 1,300 messages with person called ‘Salman’.
2015: Abedi’s phone is linked to an Al Qaeda suspect under investigation for arranging travel to Syria.
2015: MI5 told about Abedi’s contact with Libyan-linked subject of interest.
February 2015: Abedi visited Abdallah on remand in London’s Belmarsh prison, prompting MI5 and police probes.
May 2015: MI5 considered investigating Salman and another individual. He was treated as an informal subject of interest involved in funding terrorism.
September 2015: Salman’s older brother, Ismail Abedi, is stopped at Heathrow on return from Malaysian honeymoon. Radical material is found on his phone.
September 2015: Salman and Hashem go on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, which friends call a ‘turning point’ for Hashem, who became a bomb-maker.
October 2015: Abedi’s status as a subject of interest is reopened and closed within a day after MI5 found a link with ‘senior’ Libyan Isis figure – later clarified as being via a third person.
November 2015: Salman travels to Germany via Paris – days before Isis-inspired terror attack killed 130 people in the French capital. MI5 initially believed he was attempting to reach Syria, later discounted as unlikely.
April 2016: Abedi revealed as ‘contact of a contact’ of an MI5 ‘subject’ suspected of funding an Isis fighter in Syria.
May 2016: Manchester airport informs police after Abedi is seen activating a boarding card for a flight to Istanbul – a well-known transit point to Syria – next to a suspicious individual.
Early 2017: Two pieces of intelligence received by MI5 about Abedi. He may have been thwarted if the intelligence was acted upon, inquiry concludes.
January 2017: Bomber appeared as a second-level contact of individual who was being investigated due to previous travel to Syria, and Isis links.
January 2017: He and two associates visit Abdallah in HMP Altcourse. MI5 are informed. That day, Abedi orders his first bomb-making chemicals.
March 2017: Abedi flagged as a potential terrorist by a security services computer programme, following intelligence received in 2016.
April 2017: Abedi is again flagged up as a second-level contact of a subject under investigation for links to a recruiter and facilitator for Isis in Libya.
May 2017: Salman Abedi is one of 26 individuals considered for further ‘low-level’ investigations by MI5, with a meeting scheduled for May 31 to discuss his case. He detonates bomb on May 22.
Arena families' fury at MI5 errors
By James Tozer and Richard Marsden
The father of the youngest victim of the Manchester Arena bombing last night rejected an apology from the head of MI5 over his spies’ missed chance to foil the plot.
In a rare on-camera statement, the agency’s director general, Ken McCallum, said he was ‘profoundly sorry’ that the May 2017 attack that claimed 22 lives was not prevented.
But retired High Court judge Sir John Saunders, chairman of the inquiry into the atrocity, yesterday accused MI5 of a ‘significant missed opportunity’ to stop it,
