Alleged perpetrator of Paris attacks travels to Britain to meet jihadists

According to the Guardian newspaper, an alleged perpetrator of the November Paris attacks Abdelhamid Abaaoud visited the UK in 2015 while he had been the subject of an international arrest warrant.

Police react to a suspicious vehicle near La Carillon restaurant following a series of deadly attacks in Paris on November 13. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

According to the British daily, Abaaoud who has bragged about travelling freely through Europe and evading police dragnets, had entered Britain through a ferry port in England’s southeast.

The newspaper said the Belgian jihadist visited last year London and Birmingham and some photos of British landmarks were found on his mobile phone by French police after he was killed in a raid in Paris on 18 November.

Abaaoud had met several jihadists he had known reported the daily, but it was not clear whether the photos were for an attack.

“It is remarkable that this terrorist entered and exited the country,” Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs committee, told the Guardian.

“He must have been on a watch list. Serious questions need to be answered so that we can prevent a repetition of what actually happened,” he said adding pressure on the British government which is struggling to tighten border controls.

The Guardian cited no sources and no dates and the British interior ministry declined to comment.

Abaaoud had been sentenced in absentia to 20 years in July 2015 for recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria.