Evidence emerged last night that one of the suspects involved in the killing of the British soldier Lee Rigby was well known to anti-terror police and the security services for at least three years before the brutal Woolwich attack. Michael Adebolajo was arrested in Kenya under suspicion of being at the centre of an al-Qa’ida-inspired plot in 2010, The Independent on Sunday yesterday revealed.
He was one of seven men arrested by Kenyan police after landing on an island off the Kenyan coast in November 2010. Local press reports of the arrests referred to Mr Adebolajo as a “Nigerian with a British passport” who was “suspected of masterminding the racket.”
Police claimed the men were travelling to Somalia to join the ranks of the al-Shabaab terrorist group. His family claimed he was held in detention and tortured before being deported back to Britain without charge.
After the incident, members of his family said he was “pestered” by MI5 agents pressuring him to become an informant for them and infiltrate radical Islamic extremist groups. Relatives said other family members
were also harassed and questioned by the UK authorities. In an exclusive interview with The IoS, Mr Adebolajo’s brother-in law claimed constant demands to get him to spy on Muslim clerics might have pushed him over the edge.
The allegation that MI5 knew of Mr Adebolajo’s radical views for so long has increased the pressure on the intelligence services over their failure to recognise the scale of the threat he posed, amid the fall-out from the shocking killing of Drummer Rigby last Wednesday.
A friend of Mr Adebolajo has told the BBC that MI5 had attempted to recruit the suspected killer six months ago. It was also reported last night that Michael Adebowale, who was arrested alongside Mr Adebolajo following the soldier’s killing, had been detained by police two months ago.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who leads the body that oversees the work of the intelligence services, said the organisations had “serious questions to answer”. The MI5 chief, Andrew Parker, will provide a written report on the incident this week, before he is called before the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC).
But Sir Malcolm, who is chairman of the ISC, pledged that the committee would also use new powers to force intelligence agencies to hand over all confidential documents relating to the case.
Abu Zuybyr, who is married to Mr Adebolajo’s sister, Christiana, said last night that his brother-in-law had recently been “elated” following the birth of his child. But added: “Then things became a little strange.”
Speaking from a café in the shadow of a mosque in an east Lancashire town, just before midday prayers, Mr Zuybyr said: “Why did he suddenly flip?” As family members struggled for explanations for Mr Adebolajo’s actions, they speculated that pressure from the security services to turn informer may have pushed him to act.
“That is what the [Mr Adebolajo’s] family is saying; that the secret service pushed him over the edge,” his brother-in-law claimed.
They insisted that Mr Adebolajo’s character changed markedly in 2010, after a visit to Kenya – where, they say, he had gone to study Arabic and Islam with imams in mosques in Nairobi.
But an investigation by The IoS has revealed that Mr Adebolajo – officially described as “Mr Michael Olemindis Ndemolajo” – was one of seven youths arrested by Kenyan police on suspicion of trying to join the ranks of the al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia.
The young men had gone on a speedboat from Lamu island to Kizingitini, Pate island, where they were arrested by police who were waiting for them after a tip off. The group he was travelling with, which included two secondary-school boys, had been radicalised during weekly visits to a mosque in Mombasa, according to police sources.
They were thrown in jail and “the suspect from Nigeria” accused police of torturing him, according to local reports.
Kenyan media stated: “The Nigerian, Mr Michael Olemindis Adebolajo, is said to have travelled from the UK to join the group.”
Mr Zuybyr claimed his brother-in-law had been tortured violently, threatened with rape and his private parts had been grabbed.
Mr Zuybyr also alleged that, when Mr Adebolajo returned to Britain, he had been pestered by MI5 about informing for them. He added that other members of the family had been quizzed about Mr Adebolajo in an effort to put pressure on him.
Mr Adebolajo’s elder brother, Jeremiah, had gone to Saudi Arabia to teach English, but had been arrested and harassed by the authorities about his brother. And Mr Zuybyr himself said that when he went to Yemen four years ago to learn Arabic with his new wife, he was rounded up and questioned at gunpoint.
He added: “When I came back to Britain, MI5 contacted me and showed significant interest in Michael. I was harassed for a while, with constant calls from people claiming to be from the FBI.” Mr Zuybyr and his wife left their family in London and moved to east Lancashire, but he said MI5 had still tracked him down and questioned him about his brother-in-law.
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