BRITISH synagogue terrorist Malik Faisal Akram was investigated by MI5 just MONTHS before the siege in Texas, it has emerged.
Akram, 44, was shot dead on Saturday after a 12-hour siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Texas – but he was probed by the security service in late 2020.
Akram was declared one of around 3,000 "subjects of interest" for MI5 in 2020 because of an – as yet unknown – threat to the UK.
The covert MI5 probe into his Islamic extremism lasted at least a month, sources confirmed.
His behaviour and threat to the UK was assessed by intelligence officers – before a decision was taken to stand him down as an SOI.
He was downgraded following the assessment – but he remained on a "long list" of 30,000 suspects.
Despite that, spooks had no legal power to prevent him from travelling to the US on December 29 last year.
A source told The Sun: "The assessment was that he didn't present a terrorist threat at that time."
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No information of concern appears to have been passed to the US authorities before the synagogue attack.
It comes as Akram's brother also raised concerns as to how the gunman managed to get a US visa despite having a criminal record.
He was not on US "no-fly" lists despite the oddball's clear links to Islamic extremism dating back at least 20 years.
It also emerged that he was barred from entering Blackburn Magistrates’ Court for repeatedly threatening and abusing the court staff as long ago as 2001.
Deputy justice clerk Peter Wells slammed Akram as a "menace" at the time.
Akram was reportedly known to regularly cause trouble inside the court – even when he wasn't due to appear before the bench.
After issuing a warning to him, Lancashire magistrates' committee decided to slap him with a ban for raving about 9/11 just hours after the terror attack that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
In March last year he reportedly left his home, telling friends he was travelling to Pakistan.
And his obsession with Pakistani female fanatic Aafia Siddiqu – whose release he demanded from US custody – is now likely to form a major part of the US probe.
His brother, Gulbar, has demanded to know how he had been allowed to travel, telling reporters: "He's known to police.
RED FLAGS
"Got a criminal record. How was he allowed to get a visa and acquire a gun?"
Last night the FBI and MI5 were poring over Akram's phone and computer data, looking for clues to what sparked the siege.
Security sources say his mental health will play a significant part in the inquiry.
Meanwhile, The Sun understands the arrest of two teenagers in Manchester was likely to be "precautionary".
A source said: "The focus will now turn to Akram's digital footprint and his associates in the UK, but also any abroad."
Whitehall sources today played down any further threat to the UK.
Last night, ex-CIA terror expert Aki Peritz told The Sun: "The American authorities will be running the gunman's name through all the classified databases to see if there's a link to a known terrorist group.
"If they have access to his cellphone and his computer, they'll be stripping it down to its studs looking for clues as well."
Mr Peritz, author of Disruption – a book examining the 2006 jet bombs plot, added: "Given that this was a UK national, the US will also be working with our British cousins to generate more information.
"Did he have help here in the US? Why did he pick that specific synagogue in Texas of the thousands of synagogues and Jewish community centres in America?
MI5 PROBE
"Finally, the authorities will be asking how and where did he, a foreign national, procure a weapon so quickly?"
Akram jetted into New York's JFK airport on December 29.
US officials say he bought a gun in a "private sale" before slipping into the synagogue at 11am on Saturday, pretending to be a homeless man.
Akram held the congregation hostage for ten hours, demanding the release of Siddiqu.
As cops surrounded the building, his hostage count was reduced to four – before SWAT teams moved in and shot him dead.
Akram's focus on Siddiqu, dubbed "Lady al-Qaeda", was unclear.
She is serving an 86-year sentence just 20 miles away from the synagogue's location.
The fanatic, who is not related to Akram, was picked up in Afghanistan in 2008.
She 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.
She was extradited and convicted in the US in 2010 and jailed.
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