The Manchester Arena bomber was on MI5’s radar greater than 20 instances – together with for makes an attempt to journey to Syria and his hyperlinks to Islamic State fundraisers.
An inquiry into the atrocity discovered the safety service may need been capable of forestall the assault.
Former excessive court docket choose Sir John Saunders delivered his third and closing report from the inquiry on Thursday, after listening to proof from the intelligence neighborhood – prompting a livid response from the households of the victims and an apology from MI5.
A complete of twenty-two individuals died, with lots of extra injured, within the terrorist assault on 22 May 2017.
The timeline under units out the variety of instances the bomber was on MI5’s radar.
Read extra:
Step by step – the safety failings on the evening intimately
December 2010
Salman Abedi first got here to MI5’s consideration seven years earlier than the assault, when an deal with linked to him was related in one in every of its investigations.
2011
The following 12 months, MI5 and counter-terrorism police made checks after info was acquired that Abedi could also be travelling to Syria. It was decided he had gone to Europe briefly.
3 and 17 November 2011
Ramadan Abedi, Salman’s father, was topic to a Schedule 7 ports examination at Manchester Airport and Dover, getting back from Libya. On one event Salman was with him.
December 2013
MI5’s Operation Camellia investigated a person suspected of planning to go to Syria to affix the preventing.
It checked out whether or not Abedi matched the profile of a person seen appearing suspiciously alongside their topic of curiosity, however he was dominated out.
18 March 2014
MI5 made Abedi a topic of curiosity in his personal proper, opening an investigation as a result of a phone quantity registered to him had been in touch with Operation Camellia’s topic of curiosity.
He was handled as a “Tier Three” contact – somebody who was not concerned in the primary exercise – and his case was closed 4 months later.
8 July 2014
Salman and his youthful brother, Hashem Abedi, travelled to Libya.
On 4 August, the Royal Navy’s HMS Enterprise evacuated 110 Britons from the struggle in Tripoli.
Among them was Abedi, then 19, and Hashem, then 17. Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the police performed a debriefing with them.
1 August 2014
IS recruiter Abdalraouf Abdallah’s residence was searched and his telephones seized as a part of Operation Oliban, revealing 1,300 texts with an individual referred to as “Salman”, together with some in reward of martyrdom.
Read extra:
‘Blood on their arms’ – Could MI5 have stopped assault?
‘Am I going to die?’ The emergency companies’ response
2015
Abedi appeared once more in an MI5 investigation in 2015.
His telephone quantity was in touch with “Subject of Interest B”, a person beforehand linked to al Qaeda and below investigation on the time for facilitating journey to Syria.
The identical quantity was already in MI5’s file as a result of the alleged extremist in Operation Camellia had saved it on his telephone as “Salman in Manchester”.
MI5 knew at this level that Abedi and Subject of Interest B had met in individual a variety of instances.
Also in 2015, MI5 acquired info that Abedi was in touch with a “longstanding” topic of curiosity, described as “Subject of Interest C”, who had earlier affiliations with a bunch in Libya.
February 2015
Abedi visited IS recruiter Abdallah when he was on remand in Belmarsh jail in London.
MI5 and the North West Counter Terrorism Unit sought info on the character of the go to however didn’t get any intelligence which they felt justified wanting into Abedi as a proper topic of curiosity.
6 May 2015
A letter to counter-terrorism police by an MI5 officer indicated an investigative staff have been contemplating opening a “lead” investigation into Abedi and one other particular person.
No such investigation was opened however for greater than a 12 months between June 2015 and August 2016, as a part of one other lead investigation, intelligence was acquired on Abedi.
He was “effectively being treated as a Tier 2” topic of curiosity – one concerned in funding or journey overseas – though not “formally” being a topic of curiosity.
On a number of events, Abedi was “mentioned in reporting” to MI5, which included “conflicting information” about his assist for IS.
3 September 2015
Salman’s older brother, Ismail Abedi, was topic to a Schedule 7 ports examination at Heathrow as he returned from his honeymoon in Malaysia. Radical materials was discovered on his telephone.
16 September 2015
Salman Abedi and Hashem Abedi travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage, returning on 3 October.
Friends later say this was a turning level for Hashem, who was to turn into his brother’s bomb-maker.
October 2015
Abedi was reopened and closed as a topic of curiosity on the identical day.
He was thought to have had direct hyperlinks to a “senior” Islamic State determine in Libya, however the case was closed when it was clarified their hyperlinks have been by means of a 3rd individual.
7 November 2015
Salman Abedi travelled to Germany through Paris. He returned to Britain the next day.
Initially, an MI5 officer thought-about it was seemingly he was trying to journey to Syria however an MI5 investigator – along side colleagues – disagreed and concluded journey to Syria was unlikely.
Separately, the Paris assaults happened six days later.
April 2016
Abedi appeared as a “second level” contact, which means the contact of a contact, for an MI5 topic of curiosity who was below investigation for offering monetary assist to a member of IS in Syria.
May 2016
A month later, MI5 made checks after Manchester Airport knowledgeable police that Abedi was seen activating a boarding card subsequent to a suspicious particular person, regarded as the IS recruiter Abdallah.
It turned out to not be Abdallah and whereas the pair travelled to Istanbul, a widely known transit level to Syria, they have been really on their option to Libya.
Early 2017
On two events, intelligence was acquired by MI5 about Abedi that was assessed to narrate to “possibly innocent activity or to non-terrorist criminality on his part”.
Its nature has by no means been publicly disclosed resulting from nationwide safety, however the inquiry discovered that had the intelligence been interpreted otherwise, Abedi might have been thwarted.
Neither piece of intelligence was shared by MI5 with counter-terror police within the North West.
January 2017
Abedi, aged 22, once more appeared as a second-level contact of a person who was being investigated as a result of he had beforehand travelled to Syria and was linked to IS.
18 January 2017
Abedi visited Abdallah in jail once more, this time at HMP Altcourse, accompanied by two associates.
The three males have been collectively within the guests’ corridor for an hour and 47 minutes. The date was vital as a result of it was the day Abedi ordered his first bomb-making chemical substances.
MI5 was knowledgeable of the go to.
3 March 2017
Abedi was flagged as a possible terrorist by a pc programme, because of intelligence acquired in mid-2016.
He was one in every of 685 topics of curiosity to hit a “priority indicator” for his case to be reopened.
On 1 May, three weeks earlier than the assault, MI5 triaged Abedi’s case and determined it met the standards for additional investigation.
April 2017
Abedi was once more flagged up as a second-level contact of a topic below investigation for hyperlinks to a recruiter and facilitator for IS in Libya.
8 May 2017
Abedi was one in every of 26 individuals referred to a different safety service operation, taking a look at whether or not individuals had re-engaged with extremism.
A gathering to debate the case was resulting from be held on 31 May, 9 days after the assault.
The atrocity and aftermath
22 May 2017
Salman Abedi dedicated mass homicide when he detonated his home made bomb full of shrapnel whereas individuals left an Ariana Grande live performance.
Twenty-two harmless individuals have been killed and lots of have been injured.
20 August 2020
The attacker’s brother, Hashem Abedi, was sentenced to not less than 55 years after being discovered responsible 5 months earlier of twenty-two counts of homicide.
The court docket heard how he helped supply, purchase, stockpile and transport elements for the bomb, utilizing a variety of telephones, autos and addresses.
Source: information.sky.com”