The third terrorist involved in Saturday's attack in London has been identified as Youssef Zaghba, an Italian-Moroccan. Zaghba was held at Bologna airport in March 2016 as he was about to take a flight to Istanbul. He had only a small backpack, a passport and a one-way ticket, suspicious circumstances that led to him being stopped. The man's mother, who reportedly still lives in the province of Bologna, was contacted. At the time, terror prosecutor Valter Giovannini was alerted and intervened to stop the young man embarking. Police seized his passport, cellphone and PC at his home where a search was made but no "particular elements" emerged apart from some religious documents, downloaded from extremist sites. The young man, who missed the flight, was then released. After the episode in Bologna Zaghba was monitored by Italian intelligence and was said to have spent short periods of time in Italy, visiting friends and family. For much of the time he travelled between Morocco and the UK. After the Bologna arrest Italian intelligence services sent a note to British ones.
Immediately after he was arrested at Bologna airport in March 2016, Italian authorities put the name of Zaghba, on the international intelligence circuit, sources said Tuesday.
An investigation established that he was not dangerous enough to be arrested, they said.
But his name, like that of dozens of others, was flagged in the circuit because he was deemed at risk of radicalisation.
London's Metropolitan Police told Italian authorities of Zaghba's involvement in Saturday's attack at and near London Bridge that killed seven people, sources said.
Since then there has been a continual exchange of information between British and Italian authorities, with the support of the whole anti-terrorism apparatus.
Born in Fez, Morocco, in January 1995, Youssef Zaghba is the son of a Moroccan naturalised Italian and an Italian woman who converted to Islam.
He grew up in Morocco where he stayed until he was 20.
Zaghba was on the roll of Italians resident abroad (AIRE) of the town of Valsamoggia near Bologna, Mayor Daniele Ruscigno said.
"The family was resident in a hamlet at Castello di Serravalle. They were in Morocco for many years and the young man can only have returned while travelling between Morocco, where he lived, and London," the mayor said.
"He never actually lived here".
Ruscigno said "the only member of the family who lived here was the mother, who had not been seen for a while. She too lived abroad for some time. We had received no information on the son precisely because he lived abroad." Zaghba's father is said to be in Morocco.
After his arrest in March 2016, when he was trying to leave for Turkey, Zaghba came back to Bologna twice, for two or three days at a time, to visit his mother, police said.
He was being monitored by Italian police and intelligence, sources said.
The mother, 68, was convinced her son was working in London, and did not know about any other initiatives on his part, sources said.
The mother was quizzed yesterday, when she said she was worried because her son had not been in touch with her, sources said. When he was stopped at Bologna airport, the woman begged police not to let him leave because she was worried about "strange" talk from him.
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