One of the suspects in the Woolwich murder case was arrested in Kenya in 2010, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
It said Michael Adebolajo was arrested there and it gave consular assistance “as normal” in the circumstances.
He was believed to have been preparing to train and fight with Somali militant group al-Shabab, Boniface Mwaniki, head of Kenya’s anti-terrorism unit, told the Associated Press.
He said Mr Adebolajo was arrested with five others and later deported.
The Kenyan government had previously denied he had ever visited the country, but spokesman Muthui Kariuki said there had been some confusion as he was arrested under a different name.
Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab is affiliated to al-Qaeda and is thought to have 7,000 to 9,000 fighters. It killed 76 people in a double bomb attack in Uganda as they watched the 2010 World Cup.
Mr Adebolajo, 28, and a second man, Michael Adebowale, 22, were arrested on suspicion of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday.
They remain in custody in hospital in a stable condition after being shot and wounded by police at the scene after the killing. The family of Drummer Lee Rigby, who was slain in Woolwich last week, visit the scene of his death
Three further men, aged 21, 24 and 28, were arrested in London on Saturday evening on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder – a Taser was used on two of them.
A 29-year-old man arrested earlier on suspicion of conspiracy to murder was released on bail on Saturday.
In an update on Sunday, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne said officers were examining CCTV footage, social media and forensic material as part of their investigation into Drummer Rigby’s murder.
He appealed for any associates of Mr Adebolajo and Mr Adebowale who believed they might have useful information to come forward.
Earlier on Sunday, Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme “500 officers and others” were working on the case, including counter-terrorism officers brought in from elsewhere in the country.
Senior Whitehall sources have previously confirmed to the BBC both suspects arrested at the scene of Drummer Rigby’s killing were already known to security services.
A friend of Mr Adebolajo, Abu Nusaybah, told the BBC’s Newsnight on Friday that MI5 tried to recruit Mr Adebolajo as an operative after he returned from a trip to Kenya in 2012 – a request he rejected.
When asked if there were mistakes made by the security services in dealing with this case, Mrs May said: “What we have is the right procedures which say when things like this happen we do need to look at whether there are any lessons to be learned.”
She also said a new taskforce was being set up to look at whether new powers were needed to tackle extremism. It will be chaired by the prime minister and include senior cabinet ministers and security chiefs.
Mrs May said “thousands” of people were potentially at risk of radicalisation in the UK, and the government had introduced “a new programme, which is not for those immediately at danger of radicalisation, but for those who are perhaps ‘further out’”.
Several senior politicians, including former Labour home secretaries Lord Reid and Alan Johnson, and former independent reviewer of terror laws Lib Dem peer Lord Carlile, have urged the government to revive its controversial Communications Data Bill in the wake of the Woolwich murder.
The bill would have given police and security services access, without a warrant, to details of all online communication in the UK – such as the time, duration, originator and recipient – as well all citizens’ web browsing history.
It was shelved after opposition from the Liberal Democrats, but former Conservative Party leader and home secretary Michael Howard said the Tories could form a pact with Labour to push the bill through.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government must “reach agreement on communications data so it doesn’t become a political football”, adding: “The challenges faced by the police with new technology should be addressed whilst protecting people’s freedoms.”
It said Michael Adebolajo was arrested there and it gave consular assistance “as normal” in the circumstances.
He was believed to have been preparing to train and fight with Somali militant group al-Shabab, Boniface Mwaniki, head of Kenya’s anti-terrorism unit, told the Associated Press.
He said Mr Adebolajo was arrested with five others and later deported.
The Kenyan government had previously denied he had ever visited the country, but spokesman Muthui Kariuki said there had been some confusion as he was arrested under a different name.
Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab is affiliated to al-Qaeda and is thought to have 7,000 to 9,000 fighters. It killed 76 people in a double bomb attack in Uganda as they watched the 2010 World Cup.
Mr Adebolajo, 28, and a second man, Michael Adebowale, 22, were arrested on suspicion of the murder of soldier Lee Rigby in Woolwich on Wednesday.
They remain in custody in hospital in a stable condition after being shot and wounded by police at the scene after the killing. The family of Drummer Lee Rigby, who was slain in Woolwich last week, visit the scene of his death
Three further men, aged 21, 24 and 28, were arrested in London on Saturday evening on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder – a Taser was used on two of them.
A 29-year-old man arrested earlier on suspicion of conspiracy to murder was released on bail on Saturday.
In an update on Sunday, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne said officers were examining CCTV footage, social media and forensic material as part of their investigation into Drummer Rigby’s murder.
He appealed for any associates of Mr Adebolajo and Mr Adebowale who believed they might have useful information to come forward.
Earlier on Sunday, Home Secretary Theresa May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme “500 officers and others” were working on the case, including counter-terrorism officers brought in from elsewhere in the country.
Senior Whitehall sources have previously confirmed to the BBC both suspects arrested at the scene of Drummer Rigby’s killing were already known to security services.
A friend of Mr Adebolajo, Abu Nusaybah, told the BBC’s Newsnight on Friday that MI5 tried to recruit Mr Adebolajo as an operative after he returned from a trip to Kenya in 2012 – a request he rejected.
When asked if there were mistakes made by the security services in dealing with this case, Mrs May said: “What we have is the right procedures which say when things like this happen we do need to look at whether there are any lessons to be learned.”
She also said a new taskforce was being set up to look at whether new powers were needed to tackle extremism. It will be chaired by the prime minister and include senior cabinet ministers and security chiefs.
Mrs May said “thousands” of people were potentially at risk of radicalisation in the UK, and the government had introduced “a new programme, which is not for those immediately at danger of radicalisation, but for those who are perhaps ‘further out’”.
Several senior politicians, including former Labour home secretaries Lord Reid and Alan Johnson, and former independent reviewer of terror laws Lib Dem peer Lord Carlile, have urged the government to revive its controversial Communications Data Bill in the wake of the Woolwich murder.
The bill would have given police and security services access, without a warrant, to details of all online communication in the UK – such as the time, duration, originator and recipient – as well all citizens’ web browsing history.
It was shelved after opposition from the Liberal Democrats, but former Conservative Party leader and home secretary Michael Howard said the Tories could form a pact with Labour to push the bill through.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government must “reach agreement on communications data so it doesn’t become a political football”, adding: “The challenges faced by the police with new technology should be addressed whilst protecting people’s freedoms.”
BBC
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