Intelligence that linked the Manchester Arena bomber to another suspected terrorist was uncovered by detectives three years before the 2017 bombing but was never passed on for further investigation, an inquiry has heard.
Detectives found the name, photo and phone number of Salman Abedi during an investigation into Abdalraouf Abdallah in 2014.
They found Abedi had exchanged about 1,300 text messages with Abdallah in November 2014. In one message, Abedi wrote: “By Allah … every day, on every kneeling I ask my Lord for martyrdom.”
Abedi also described non-Muslims as “dogs” and “kuffars” – a derogatory Arabic term for unbelievers – and shared an image of the currency used by Islamic State in Syria, “not under control of the west”. Abedi was named only as “Salman” in Abdallah’s phone.
On Monday, Frank Morris, a former senior investigating officer at North West Counter Terrorism Policing (NWCTP) who found the text messages, told the inquiry into the bombing that the intelligence should have been passed on for “development” but was not.
The text messages were only traced back to Abedi after he killed 22 people and injured hundreds more when he detonated a suicide vest at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017.
The inquiry has previously heard intelligence was received by MI5 about Abedi in the months before the bombing but was assessed at the time to relate to possibly non-terrorist criminality. In retrospect this intelligence was highly relevant to the planned attack, the inquiry has been told.
Morris said there was nothing extraordinary in Abedi’s text exchanges with Abdallah, who was convicted and jailed for terrorism offences in 2016 after being at the centre of a network that helped British Muslim men travel to Syria or Libya to fight.
Morris said, however, that more should have been done to establish Abedi’s identity.
He told the inquiry: “It went to the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service], they did not ask. Nobody ever asked who this Salman was. So with hindsight, of course it should have been put in, but at the time I did not think it should have been.”
The inquiry was told “modest policing efforts” would have identified who “Salman” was and officers could have referred him to the Prevent programme for deradicalisation or for further investigation.
Morris said four or five people, including detectives, intelligence analysts and himself, were aware of the information but did not flag it up for further inquiries.
The “Salman” exchanges were among 14,500 contacts on the phone and Morris said that at that time in 2014 he was personally running 10 to 14 operations and the counter-terror unit up to 110 separate investigations.
He said: “At that time this was commonplace and I know I keep saying it, this was not unusual. That’s the issue with intelligence – it’s very subjective.”
Sir John Saunders, the chair of the inquiry, said that had police linked the phone number of Salman with his identity, this information could have “informed future decisions”.
