Home Secretary Theresa May condemned as London terror suspect goes on the run in burka

 
On the run: Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed wants his terror order declared illegal
Undated handout photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of terror suspect Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed who is being hunted by counter-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard after breaching his terrorism prevention and investigation measures notice. PRESS ASSOCIA
5 November 2013

Home Secretary Theresa May was heavily criticised today after a second terror suspect went on the run in London.

Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, 27, escaped surveillance by changing into a burka on a visit to a mosque in west London on Friday.

Mohamed, who was under a terrorism prevention and investigation measure (TPIM), entered the building in Acton wearing Western-style clothes.

But CCTV images show him leaving with his face and body fully covered by the traditional Islamic garment.

Hunt: suspect Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed leaving the An-Noor Masjid and Community Centre (Mosque) in Church Road, Acton dressed in "Islamic clothing".

He is thought to have received training and fought overseas for al-Shabab, the Somalia-based terror group blamed for the massacre at a shopping mall in Kenya in September.

Another terror suspect, Ibrahim Magag, who is understood to have attended terrorist training camps in Somalia, absconded from a Tpim notice last December after reportedly jumping in a black cab in London.

Mohamed is believed to have helped support a UK-based network for terrorism-related activity in Somalia, which included Magag among its members.

Counter-terrorism officers were today hunting for Somalia-born Mohamed. Scotland Yard insisted he is “not considered at this time to represent a direct threat to the public”, but urged anyone who saw him to call 999 immediately.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper questioned the police’s reassurance, stressing that Mohamed had allegedly been involved in procuring weapons, funding and planning attacks on western interests in Somalia. “The judge said the national security case against him was ‘overwhelming’,” she was set to tell the Commons.

Lord Carlile, former independent reviewer of terrorist laws, suggested the failure to relocate Mohamed out of London meant it would have been easier for him to plot with accomplices to abscond. “We were assured by the Government that extra money would be spent on surveillance to ensure exactly this kind of event did not occur,” he said.

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