It was also revealed that the terrorist from Britain who robbed a synagogue by pretending to be a homeless person conned US border forces by saying he was in a New York hotel. This claim was made by Eddie Murphy, the movie star of Coming to America.
Malik Faisal Akram (44), a Blackburn resident, claimed that he had been checking into US Immigration at Queens Boulevard, but never showed up.
The busy road, connecting Queens with Manhattan, was at the heart of Murphy’s 1988 hit movie, where he played Akeem Joffer, the crown prince of the Zamunda, an African nation from Africa was forced to hide in New York by his father King. He wanted to live a normal existence and work in fast food joints where he falls in love with the daughter of the owner.
Akram, who had boarded from Britain on a plane to New York City’s JFK Airport around January 2, arrived in New York. He has a criminal history dating back over 25 years.
According to some reports, he informed passport control that he planned on staying in Queens Boulevard. According to his paperwork, the address that he provided was identical to the Queens Hotel which provides basic accommodations for as low as $80-per-night. According to the receptionist, FBI agents reviewed their CCTV footage but could not find any useful information.
He is thought to have instead travelled to Dallas from the airport via the New York Port Authority bus terminal. It takes 39 hours to travel through Washington DC, Richmond Virginia and then on into Texas.
The man then claimed to be homeless and went to the Union Gospel Mission in Dallas the week prior to the terrorist attack. He was able, according to Joe Biden, to purchase a gun ‘off-the-street’.
Bruce Butler, the shelter’s CEO, told CNN that staff witnessed him “come and leave” on January 6. However, he did not mention religion nor his intentions to attack the synagogue. One source claimed today that he was dropped off at one by ‘someone he appeared to know’.
According to Mr Butler, we were “a way station” for him. He knew what he wanted. He was very quiet’, adding he left for the final time on January 13. Investigators are still trying to figure out what the attacker did the last 48 hours before attacking the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, Colleyville. The attack took place around 22 miles from Colleyville on Saturday morning, January 15. After posing as a homeless man, he took out his gun.
The terrorist was captured at JFK Airport on January 2, and stayed in Dallas’ homeless shelter before setting off the attack on January 15.
Malik Faisal Akram was commonly known as Faisal Akram and was a frequent visitor to Pakistan. He told US Immigration officers he was checking in at an address on Queen’s Boulevard but never turned up, according to FBI sources, The street is where Coming to America starring Eddie Murphy is set
It appears that his address on arrival papers was the same one as Queens Hotel, New York City. This hotel offers basic accommodations for $80 per night. However, it’s believed that he didn’t turn up.
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, he was able to enter the synagogue at 11:05 on Saturday morning.
He spewed anti-Semitic abuse and demanded the release of convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, whom he referred to as his ‘sister’.
The location of the attack is significant because she is being held in a jail about 20 miles from Colleyville, at FMC Carswell in Fort Worth.
Two more hostages ran out of the sidedoor, being chased by Akram, who was waving a gun. Akram saw the armed police outside, and he ran back inside.
The FBI Rescue Team stormed the building firing stun grenades and bullets shortly after. Around 10:10 on Saturday night, Akram was killed in an explosion of bullets.
Akram’s family was shocked that Akram had been allowed to pass customs at New York’s JFK in the early hours of January 2.
It appears police had been looking for him. Two detectives arrived at his house around the same time. But he was not there.
One neighbour said that two detectives came knocking on his door about three to four weeks back, asking him for help. The attempted contact could have been connected to plans for him to fly to the USA just days later, it was unclear.
Gulbar, his brother, stated that he was a cooperator with FBI agents in the end of the standoff.
In a post on the Blackburn Muslim community Facebook page, Gulbar said that although his brother was suffering from mental health issues ‘we were confident that he would not harm the hostages’.
He said he had spent ‘all night’ in an incident room at Greenbank Police Station ‘until the early hours liaising with Faisal (Akram), the negotiators, FBI etc’.
‘And although my brother was suffering from mental health issues we were confident that he would not harm the hostages,’ Gulbar said.
‘At around 3am the first person was released, then an hour later he released the other 3 people through the fire door unharmed.’
He added: ‘A few minutes later a firefight has taken place and he was shot and killed. There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender’.
Gulbar added that the FBI was due to arrive in the UK on Sunday to speak to Akram’s family.
He said: ‘We would also like to add that any attack on any human being be it a Jew, Christian or Muslim etc is wrong and should always be condemned’.
At 5pm on Saturday, one hostage was released without injury. The rest were freed a little later.
A local news crew captured dramatic footage of hostages running out from a synagogue door.
The group included Rabbi Charlie Cytron Walker, who at that time was the leader of the service.
Akram briefly leaves the scene while holding onto a pistol and then returns in.
A few seconds later, SWAT units moved in and gunshots could be heard.
The standoff was watched by some members of the synagogue’s congregation on the live stream as they sat at home.
Akram could be heard saying in a Northern English accent: ‘If anyone tries to enter this building, I’m telling you…everyone will die.’
Stacey Silverman, a member of synagogue, said: ‘The perpetrator was completely deranged, foul mouthed, swearing, saying anti-Semitic tropes, talking about Israel and Palestine and Islam and that he had a gun.
‘He implied he had a bomb in his backpack and that he could let it loose at any minute. It was terrifying and it continued for several hours. I was terrified.’
Malik Faisal Akram 44 (pictured) was gunned down by FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team. The FBI had held the hostages, including four, for more than 10 hour at Congregation Beth Israel, Colleyville Texas, on Saturday.
One of the hostages at the Congregation Beth Israel in, Colleyville, Texas
ABC News reported Akram claimed that bombs were in place in an unspecified area and that explosives were in his backpacks.
In a post on Facebook Rabbi Cytron-Walker said: ‘I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive.’
The FBI and police in the town, which is around 27 miles from Dallas, are now liaising with the Metropolitan Police in London as part of an investigation with ‘global reach’.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was ‘aware of the death of a British man in Texas and are in contact with the local authorities’.
Assistant Chief Constable Dominic Scally for Counter Terror Policing North West said authorities are ‘assisting with the investigation being led by the US Authorities’.
‘Police forces in the region will continue to liaise with their local communities, including the Jewish community, and will put in place any necessary measures to provide reassurance to them,’ he said.
Sky News reports that Akram only just recently traveled to the US. This raises questions regarding why Akram targeted this synagogue.
Lead FBI special agent Matthew DeSarno confirmed Akram was a British citizen and that ‘at this time there is no indication that other individuals are involved’.
Speaking on a trip to Philadelphia, Joe Biden said: ‘This was an act of terror; it was an act of terror.’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss Tweeted: ‘My thoughts are with the Jewish community and all those affected by the appalling act in Texas.
‘We condemn this act of terrorism and anti-semitism. We stand with US in defending the rights and freedoms of our citizens against those who spread hate.’
The Texas Department of Public Safety had said in a statement as the situation was unfolding: ‘The man claims he and his sister will be going to Jannah (Muslim belief of heaven) after he sees her.’
Before the livestream was cut off Akram made the chilling comment: ‘I am going to die today. Are you listening? Ich will die. Ok? So don’t cry over me. Ok, don’t cry over me’.
The reason Akram requested Siddiqui’s release is not clear. Siddiqui was in prison for 86-years after being arrested in Afghanistan for attempted murder of an American Army Captain in 2008.
The Pakistani-born neuroscientist was found with two kilos of poison sodium cyanide and plans for chemical attacks on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge and the Empire State Building.
A lawyer representing the woman’s brother denied he was involved and said he had no idea why she was being mentioned.
This incident occurs amid increasing anti-Semitic acts in America. Dallas police and New York City’s major cities increased patrols at synagogues.
In 2018, a shooter shot 11 people dead and six others injured at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, Pennsylvania during Shabbat Morning services.
Aafia Syediqui is the ‘Lady Al Qaeda terrorist’ who plotted chemical attacks against Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building.
Siddiqui was a biology major from MIT and stated in 1993 that she wanted to do something to help our Muslim sisters and brothers’, even if this meant violating the law.
The brave display of defiance she displayed shocked her friends as she leapt to her feet.
Her journey to infamy is also detailed in an in-depth report. She attended a National Rifle Association shoot class and encouraged other Muslims learn how to fire guns.
Siddiqui deceived her husband, and when they got married over the telephone, he was stunned that she was only marrying him because of his familial connections.
The FBI released two handout photographs of Aafia Siddiqui, a terror suspect in May 2004
Siddiqui was a mother of three and eventually achieved her bizarre wish. She became the FBI’s most wanted female.
In 2010, she was brought to America and found guilty of attempted murder.
However, her hate for America was so intense that she took a gun from one her guards during interrogation and fired at them shouting “Death to Americans”.
A 2014 Boston Globe profile of Siddiqui’s time in Boston sought to answer what happened during her 11 years as a student in the U.S.
It was a miracle that radiated an intelligent, devout woman who graduated from MIT and also received a doctorate of neuroscience at Brandeis University.
While at MIT, she was a lonely student and made few new friends. She is also remembered as being driven, intelligent, and a frequent attendee of the Prospect Street mosque. Tamerlan, an alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Trarnaev attended this mosque.
Her long sleeves were adorned with the hijab, and she was deemed’very sweet’ by her former roommate in her all-female dormitory.
Her life had been centered around the Muslim Student Association, but her priorities changed when the Bosnian War broke out. This seems to be what led to her radicalization.
Siddiqui joined the Al-Kifah Refugee Centre in Brooklyn, which was thought to have been Al Qaeda’s focal point of US operations.
Evan Kohlmann is a terror expert. He said, “Aafia comes from a well-known family that has connections and sympathies for jihad.” It was exactly what they were looking for.
In 2008, she was detained in Afghanistan by Afghan forces. She had two kilograms of poison sodium chloride with her and plans for chemical attack on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge.
She and her friends were discussing ways to raise money to help Muslims who had been killed in Bosnian War. In 1993 one friend joked about how they don’t want on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.
Waqas Jilani, then a Clark University graduate student, stated that she was proud to be listed on the Most Wanted lists because it would show her commitment to helping Muslim brothers and sister.
She said, “She said that all of us should be proud” to be included on the list.”
Jilani also stated that Siddiqui had said in her speeches, that Muslims need to ‘get trained and go overseas and fight’.
He said, “We were all laughing as if Aafia had a gun!”
“Part of her problem was that she was such a poor shot. But also, she would constantly rant about the U.S. government and FBI being so evil.
Siddiqui wed Mohammed Amjad Khan (son of wealthy Pakistani families) in an over-the-phone ceremony before he flew from Pakistan to Boston.
However, he found out that his arrival was far more than the peaceful religious woman he had hoped for.
He stated, “I found that her primary goal was not the well-being and security of our family unit.” It was, instead, to be prominent in Muslim circles.
Khan spoke to the Boston Globe about how she watched Osama bin Laden’s videos and spent weekends in terror training camps in New Hampshire. She also begged her doctor to let him quit his job to join her.
He stopped inviting his workmates home, as she was unable to talk to them about their conversion to Islam.
Khan wrote: ‘Invariably it would lead to discomfort, so I decided that should be kept my work apart
‘…By this time, her attention had moved to fighting against America instead of teaching Americans how to be Muslims so America can become a Muslim country.
Siddiqui was wearing all black and insisting that they go back to Pakistan after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Siddiqui then got divorced.
American officials think she may have remarried Ammar al-Baluchi. He is the nephew 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. However, her family disputes this.
Siddiqui disappeared with her children in Karachi Pakistan, Pakistan shortly after Mohammed’s arrest in 2003.
Robert Mueller, FBI director, named her the next year as one the most wanted Al Qaeda operatives and she was the only woman.