Top intelligence sources told CNN-News18 that Malik Faisal Akram, the hostage-taker of a Texas synagogue, was radicalized by Pakistan in 2020. A 44-year-old British national, who sought the release of imprisoned Pakistani neuroscientist Afia Siddiqui with suspected ties to al-Qaeda, was shot by authorities late last week after a 10-hour siege in the small town of Colville. was killed. Four hostages, including a rabbi, were freed.
Intelligence sources said Malik Faesal spent six months in Pakistan in 2020 and came back to the United Kingdom.
Upon debriefing, they were investigated and all suspicious material with them was downloaded by the British security agency MI5. The investigation lasted four weeks.
Sources said that the real purpose of the MI5 probe was to get to know the person after six months in Pakistan.
Faisal was the head of the Rondale Street Islamic Center Reza Mosque, where a large number of Pakistani-origin Muslims offered prayers.
According to intelligence sources, his family migrated to the United Kingdom 50 years ago and he is originally from Jhelum district of Pakistan. He said that Faisal visited Pakistan 11 times between 2007 and 2020.
Sources said that he was a member of the Sunni Islamic missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat and had traveled in this connection.
He said he had been convicted thrice in the past for various crimes, but was allowed entry into the US despite this.
Intelligence sources said he was probably framed for a major task and was swiftly uncovered, adding that his footprints are similar to those of 2008 Mumbai attacks conspirator David Coleman Headley, after several years of research. And with presence in many countries.
“We are probing any visits made by him to India or any connections made by him which may be active now,” the sources said. “We cannot rule out anything to do with his worldwide travels and his connections; he has several active cells around the world. His entry into the UK and US is strange.”
Sources said that Faisal’s stay in Pakistan in 2020 was his longest stay and it was probably the period in which he was trained for terrorist activities.
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