MI5 Investigated Texas Synagogue Hostage-taker in 2020

THE GUARDIAN: UK intelligence concluded Malik Faisal Akram posed no threat, which allowed him to travel to US and buy gun

The British man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue had been under investigation by MI5 as a possible Islamist terrorist threat as recently as 2020, Whitehall sources have acknowledged.

British intelligence closed the investigation, however, after officers had concluded Malik Faisal Akram from Blackburn posed no threat, and as a result he was able to travel freely to the US and purchase a gun.

It is understood the investigation was “mid-level” and took place in the second half of 2020 – but once it had ended Akram was left as a closed subject of interest on MI5’s records, and no information of concern appears to have been passed to the US authorities before the synagogue attack.

The Security Service’s investigation lasted “over four weeks”, a source said. But it ended with an assessment that Akram did not pose a jihadist terror risk and there was no reason to prevent him from travelling abroad.

The acknowledgment is a particular embarrassment to the agency, which prides itself on a close working relationship with its US counterparts. The FBI has known about MI5’s previous investigation for some time, although British sources declined to say whether they had apologised.

Akram, a 44-year-old from Blackburn, was killed after an 11-hour hostage standoff at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville on Saturday evening. All four hostages survived the siege unharmed. » | Dan Sabbagh | Tuesday, January 18, 2022

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