Immediately after he was arrested at
Bologna airport in March 2016, Italian authorities put the name
of the third London terror attacker, Youssef Zaghba, on the
international intelligence circuit, sources said Tuesday.
An investigation established that he was not dangerous enough
to be arrested, they said.
But his name, like that of dozens of others, was flagged in
the circuit because he was deemed at risk of radicalisation.
London's Metropolitan Police told Italian authorities of
Zaghba's involvement in Saturday's attack at and near London
Bridge that killed seven people, sources said.
Since then there has been a continual exchange of information
between British and Italian authorities, with the support of the
whole anti-terrorism apparatus.
Born in Fez, Morocco, in January 1995, Youssef Zaghba is the
son of a Moroccan naturalised Italian and an Italian woman who
converted to Islam.
He grew up in Morocco where he stayed until he was 20.
Zaghba was on the roll of Italians resident abroad (AIRE) of
the town of Valsamoggia near Bologna, Mayor Daniele Ruscigno
said.
"The family was resident in a hamlet at Castello di
Serravalle. They were in Morocco for many years and the young
man can only have returned while travelling between Morocco,
where he lived, and London," the mayor said.
"He never actually lived here".
Ruscigno said "the only member of the family who lived here
was the mother, who had not been seen for a while. She too lived
abroad for some time. We had received no information on the son
precisely because he lived abroad."
Zaghba's father is said to be in Morocco.
After his arrest in March 2016, when he was trying to leave
for Turkey, Zaghba came back to Bologna twice, for two or three
days at a time, to visit his mother, police said.
He was being monitored by Italian police and intelligence,
sources said.
The mother, 68, was convinced her son was working in London,
and did not know about any other initiatives on his part,
sources said.
The mother was quizzed yesterday, when she said she was
worried because her son had not been in touch with her, sources
said.
When he was stopped at Bologna airport, the woman begged
police not to let him leave because she was worried about
"strange" talk from him.
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