SAS seized terror suspect three years ago: Michael Adebolajo deemed so significant, Special Forces were sent to grab him in Kenya in 2010

 

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SAS seized terror suspect three years ago: Michael Adebolajo deemed so significant, Special Forces were sent to grab him in Kenya in 2010

• Terror suspect was 'snatched' in 'highly dramatic' helicopter operation
• 'Deemed important' by British security services who had been monitoring him since before his arrest in 2010
• Adebolajo was deported from Kenya and flown back to UK
• Despite warnings stretching back ten years, he remained on 'low-risk' watch

By Stephen Wright, David Williams and Keith Gladdis

PUBLISHED:17:45 EST, 29 May 2013| UPDATED:02:46 EST, 30 May 2013

An SAS unit ‘snatched’ Woolwich terror suspect Michael Adebolajo in Kenya as he prepared to enter war-torn Somalia, the Daily Mail can reveal.

Adebolajo was flown back to the UK but then allowed to roam the streets unchecked for the next two and a half years.

The extraordinary revelation that the 28-year-old was deemed so important that Special Forces were ordered to detain him will, in the wake of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last week, raise disturbing new questions as to why he was free to roam the streets of London.

Bloodied: Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo was back on the streets two and a half years after being arrested by British Special Forces in Kenya

In other developments:

■A post-mortem examination on Drummer Rigby confirmed that the soldier died from multiple stab wounds

■Three firearms officers involved in the shooting of the Woolwich suspects could be back on duty within weeks after undergoing medical and psychological assessments

■Four men who took part in the English Defence League march on Downing Street on Monday were charged with criminal offences

■Police were called to a bowling alley in Barnwood, Gloucestershire, after a 17-year-old worker brought a Second World War gun to work, claiming it was for ‘protection against Muslims’.

Murdered: The revelation that terror suspect Michael Adebolajo was detained by SAS forces will raise further questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the death of Drummer Lee Rigby

The decision to use the SAS, working closely with MI5, to snatch Adebolajo in a helicopter-borne operation was highly unusual and contradicts earlier claims that he was arrested by local police as he tried to cross into Somalia to join jihadists in November 2010.

Sources in Kenya described the operation as ‘highly dramatic’.

Heavily armed soldiers arrived from a helicopters in a ‘text book snatch’ in a remote area of the country, following a surveillance operation.

Kenyan forces were with the British soldiers at the time and he was quickly handed over to them.

Units of the Special Forces regularly train and operate in Northern Kenya and were involved at the time in targeting foreign fighters crossing into Somalia to join the Al Shabaab militia that has ties to Al Qaeda.

It is unclear exactly where Adebolajo was snatched but Kenyan officials have said he was arrested north-east of the resort of Lamu while travelling towards Somalia with five other Kenyans.

According to sources in Kenya, a Scotland Yard counter terrorism officer – based in Africa – was close by as Adebolajo was taken into custody.

A source said: ‘The SAS took the lead role. The reason they were involved was because this man was deemed important.’

Adebolajo was deported from Kenya after his arrest in 2010.

He was put on a scheduled flight back to the UK and he was not escorted by an armed policeman – although a Scotland Yard detective, travelling undercover, is believed to have been on the flight.

A source said: ‘He was brought back to the UK because the security services had a “duty of care” to stop him going into Somalia, where he was likely to have been killed. Before going to Kenya in 2010, he was on the radar of the British security services. MI5 knew he was travelling to Kenya. They launched a joint operation [to detain him] with the Kenyan authorities, but he was intercepted by British Special Forces.’

Detained: Units of the Special Forces regularly train and operate in Northern Kenya and were involved at the time in targeting foreign fighters crossing into Somalia to join the Al Shabaab militia (pictured) that has ties to Al Qaeda

'On the radar': Michael Adebolajo (centre) among suspected members of the Al-Shabaab Movement who were arrested in Kenya more than two years ago for seeking terror training

According to well-placed sources, a senior defence official – with close links to Downing Street – sent a congratulatory letter to ‘partner agencies’ after Adebolajo was deported back to Britain.

But M15, which failed in its efforts to recruit Adebolajo as an informant, put him on a low-level watch.

Police and security services are under huge pressure to explain why they did not do more to stop Adebolajo and his accomplice, Michael Adebowale. Despite warnings stretching back ten years, Adebolajo is said to have been considered to be ‘low risk’ by MI5.

He was photographed at high-profile protests – even standing next to hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

Earlier this week it emerged that Kenya had warned Britain that Adebolajo was a ‘dangerous radical’ intent on waging war on the West.

Tragic: A police officer stands guard near some of the thousands of tributes left in honour of murdered 25-year-old British soldier Lee Rigby, near Woolwich Barracks

But sources in Nairobi claim that Adebolajo may have gone on to enter Kenya twice more last year, using false passports.

It is claimed that he was arrested with five others in February 2012, as he again tried to reach Somalia. Instead of being taken to court, he would have been put on a flight to the UK, under a new policy which sees all foreigners attempting to cross the border removed from Kenya.

It is claimed that Adebolajo entered Kenya a third time, to meet a cleric named Sheikh Hassan Makbul. The pair are understood to have realised their cover had been blown, and fled to Tanzania in November.

Court documents seen by the Mail reveal how determined Adebolajo’s gang were to join the Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab in 2010. When they were arrested police found Al Shabaab flags and uniforms.

Last night both the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the involvement of UK Special Forces.

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