FBI was alerted about a possible Texas terrorist contact. A new photograph of the attacker emerged just days prior to the hostage crisis.
Malik Faisal Akram (44) had been living in Dallas homeless shelters approximately 2 weeks. On Saturday, he took 4 people hostage and one rabbi in a 10-hour siege, which ended with his murder in a shooting by police officers.
Wayne Walker, the CEO and pastor at OurCalling which offers services for homeless people, stated that Akram was seen staying in their Dallas location on January 2. Their review of video footage revealed that he was picked up by someone who hugged and dropped him off.
Walker stated that Walker had dropped Walker off at a place where it seemed like Walker was in a romantic relationship.
Walker stated that Walker dropped him off with a man who had some conversation with him outside, and brought him into our facility. He then had more conversations inside.
“And they gave each another long hugs before he left. Before the one flew, they patted eachother on the back and shared long kisses.
Walker stated that his ministry had reached out to the FBI, and they were given access to Walker’s photos and videos. One photograph shows Akram in January 2002, days before the attack.
Tonight’s image of Akram was taken at an outreach center in Dallas, just three miles away from Colleyville. This photo is a new one of Akram. It was taken only days after he had taken hostages.
After arriving at JFK on January 2, the terrorist stayed for two nights in a hostel that was run by a Christian charity. The attack took place on January 15.
Akram, a British citizen from Blackburn, was the subject of a ‘short lead investigation’ – effectively chasing a tip-off – by British domestic intelligence service MI5 for a least four weeks at the end of 2020, it emerged on Tuesday.
Although there were some concerns over Akram’s activities MI5 determined there wasn’t an imminent threat to his safety and closed the case before any tactics like eavesdropping could be used, according the Times.
He was not on the Home Office Warnings Index – an airport watchlist that is used to identify potential travelers of concern when the passenger traveled across the Atlantic last year.
Sources told The Paper that it would be “disproportionate” to list someone not considered a threat on such an endangered species list.
It comes as a new image emerged of Akram tonight, taken at an outreach centre in Dallas – around three miles from the site of the attack in Colleyville – just days before he took hostages.
Wayne Walker is the chief executive officer of Our Calling. He said Akram received a hug from a man who had dropped him off at that shelter on January 2.
Two teenagers were arrested by the UK police as part of an investigation into the attack and released without being charged.
They were taken into custody in South Manchester, believed to be below the legal age of 18 and can’t be identified legally.
Malik Faisal Akram was a synagogue terrorist and is being held outside of his Blackburn house. He was bundled in a police van by 2016
Blackburn, England: Akram was detained in 2016, after refusing rent payments to his landlord. The scene is pictured with police vans
Watching from a SWAT Team officer perched on an armoured vehicle, a Texas Synagogue hostage runs away
According to police chiefs, officers are in regular contact with the US authorities in support of their investigations and they continue leading a local investigation. A North Manchester address has been searched.
Counter Terrorism Policing North West Temporary Assistant Chief Constabulary Dominic Scally stated that CTP North West continues to aid in the US investigation.
“Overnight, productive meetings have been held with American colleagues.
“As part our inquiries, we’re also working alongside colleagues from other forces. Lancashire Police is working with the Blackburn community to set up measures to offer reassurance.”
It comes as further pictures emerged today of the moment Akram was arrested outside his Blackburn home and bundled into a police van after refusing to pay his landlord any rent.
Officers took the terrorist into custody. The terrorist lived in an isolated cul-de–sac with his six children.
Many residents described Akram, a career criminal, as their ‘neighbour in hell’. He made their lives miserable with his antisocial and threatening behavior. Akram is thought to have moved to Manchester 18 months earlier.
MailOnline has learned that Akram was visited twice by police in recent months to search for terrorists.
The Lancashire Police made a call to the home just before Christmas, looking for Malik’s teenage son. They didn’t reveal why. Concerned about Malik’s teenage son’s whereabouts, they returned to the house earlier in this month.
Akram was taken into custody in 2016, after he used abuse against workers who tried to place new meters of electricity or gas inside his house.
He had failed to pay his rent and reportedly caused £10,000 worth of damage when he was finally evicted.
MailOnline received a letter from a neighbor who declined to identify himself: “He lived here only a few months, but he caused so much trouble.
“That photograph was taken November 2016, and he refused to allow bailiffs or workmen to enter the property to install electricity and gas meters.
“He was abusive to them and shouted at them in public, so they called the police.
He refused to stop and was continuing his rage at the police officers so they placed him in handcuffs, and took him off. He was not very kind. He would not engage in conversation with strangers on the street, unless he was screaming at them.
Faiisal, 44-year-old from Blackburn, was the gunman for the hostage situation in a Texas synagogue.
“On one occasion, his car was parked across a neighbour’s driveway blocking his neighbors from getting in.
The lady went to his house and politely asked him to move his car. He began to swear and yell at her. He wouldn’t move the car. She told him that she wasn’t able to tell him because she was female.
He was known for his sexist behavior. His religious beliefs were extreme and he didn’t believe that women and men could be equal.
“There was an identical dispute about parking with another neighbor, and they nearly got into a fight.
“One neighbor wanted to leave because his family was disruptive. This cul-de–sac is usually peaceful and everyone gets along well.
“He went to Manchester sometime in the late 2018/early 2019 time frame, we believe. When they finally went, it was an amazing relief. He was the neighbour of hell.
“But it was still quite surprising that he had actually been the one to set fire to the synagogue in America, and that he had been killed by the authorities.
MailOnline was told by the former landlord that Akram destroyed the furniture, ripped the carpet and caused damage to the refrigerator freezer. He also refused to pay rent.
He claimed that “He loved to pretend to be a good Muslim. But he wasn’t. He behaved deplorably.”
MailOnline revealed that Akram, who was ban from Blackburn Magistrates Court 2001 because he rants about 9/11, had a record of more than 25 years.
Borstal was his first prison, and he ended up in Borstal in the teen years. He then went to adult jail in 1996 for violent disorder.
He was again in prison a year later, for the second time, for the destruction and harassment of property. He is believed to have taken to selling drugs and was then in prison again in 2012 for stealing £5,000 in cash and phones. The case was eventually closed.
Given his background, questions continue to grow over how he was allowed into the United States, as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters today he was checked ‘multiple times’ before he entered the country.
According to the White House Press Secretary, Akram was not given any ‘derogatory information by the federal government before his landing in the United States.
A short while earlier, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy released a blistering statement demanding answers from President Joe Biden’s White House and raising alarms over ‘what national security concerns remain.’
Along with condemning the attack, Ron DeSantis and other Republican leaders like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are questioning the administration about its handling.
Psaki stated that his understanding of the matter, which we are still investigating, was that Psaki had been checked with US databases several times before entering the country.
Akram, 44, flew to New York City from the UK on January 22, despite being known to MI5 and having a criminal record.
She stated that Akram was not in the possession of any “derogatory” information when he arrived at the country.
Psaki added that they are looking back at the events to find every lesson to avoid attacks similar to this again.
Akram was fixated with demanding the release of Lady al-Qaeda Aafia Siddiqui, a convicted terrorist in a Texan jail who is a cause célèbre for terror groups around the world.
Because he has been in prisons since his youth, his brother claims that someone helped him through immigration.
The terrorist, from Blackburn, England, was shot dead in Texas on Saturday night after a 10-hour siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville where he took a rabbi and three of his congregation hostage with a handgun and claiming to be carrying a suicide bomb.
British counter-terrorism officers became aware of Akram after he had become ‘completely obsessed with Islam’ and was disruptive during Friday prayers in his latest stint.
He attended anti-Israel protests, marches for Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo. He had been first put behind bars as juvenile delinquent.
For his abuse of staff, ranting and turning up at the court, he was removed from England’s local court. According to reports, he was an avid visitor to Pakistan. He is also a member the Tablighi Jamaat organization. It was set up to purify Islam. Saudi Arabia banned the group after it was called a “gateway to terrorist”.
One senator, briefed on the case the Department for Homeland Security and a former Pentagon official, told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph today: ‘Certainly someone let the ball drop.’
MailOnline is able to reveal that the British police had been looking for him around a fortnight back at the Manchester house he shared with his six children.