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ISIS forger who ‘helped Paris jihadis kill 130 people was radicalised at London’s Finsbury Park mosque’

A MASTER forger arrested in connection with the ISIS Paris terror attacks was radicalised at the Finsbury Park mosque, police have revealed.

Algerian Athmane Touami, 35, was held by Italian police after a two-year international probe.

Algerian Athmane Touami, 35, was held by Italian police after a two year international probe
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Algerian Athmane Touami, 35, was held by Italian police after a two year international probe
Italian cops say Touami was behind the faking of documents which enabled ISIS to carry out its November 2015 bloodbath in Paris
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Italian cops say Touami was behind the faking of documents which enabled ISIS to carry out its November 2015 bloodbath in Paris
Finsbury Park mosque gained attention when Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical preacher, became its imam in 1997
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Finsbury Park mosque gained attention when Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical preacher, became its imam in 1997Credit: Alamy

Cops in the southern city of Bari said he was behind the faking of documents which enabled ISIS to carry out its November 2015 bloodbath in Paris which left 130 dead and 350 injured.

Most of those killed died at the Bataclan concert venue while others were shot in bars and restaurants throughout the French capital in a series of coordinated attacks that lasted four hours.

Italian police said Touami was part of an ISIS cell that was operating in France and Belgium and wire taps revealed he had been a regular at London's Finsbury Park mosque.

The venue gained attention when Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical preacher, became its imam in 1997 and although it closed in 2003, the mosque was re-opened in 2005 under new leadership.

Intercepted telephone conversations revealed that radical Islamic indoctrination had taken place at the Finsbury Park mosque in London.

Italian Police

Religious leaders at the mosque and Home Office staff have worked hard to transform it from a hotbed of radicalism into a model of community relations.

But in January 2015, after the offices of Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo were targeted by ISIS terrorists, the mosque's links with radical preachers resurfaced after it was alleged that the gunmen were followers of Djamel Beghal, an extremist based there in the late 1990s.

An Italian investigator said: ''Intercepted telephone conversations revealed that radical Islamic indoctrination had taken place at the Finsbury Park mosque in London, which British intelligence has long held not only to be religious venue but also a symbol of British jihadism, where from the 1990s until 2000 radicalisation was undertaken and terror groups formed that spread terror throughout the world.'' 

ISIS FORGER SNARED

The Sun has established that Touami lived in London before and after the Paris terror attacks and was even interviewed as an eyewitness to the June 2017 Finsbury Park mosque attack.

Darren Osborne, 51, drove a van into a crowd of people as they left the mosque and killed Makram Ali, 51, and left nine others injured and he was later jailed for life.

At the time Touami was interviewed as a bystander by the Financial Times and said: ''The man they arrested, he was waving at people.

"He looked happy, he looked proud of what he did.''

It was quite clear that he had studied there and there was talk of jihadist extremism at the mosque.

Roberto RossiItalian anti-terror prosecutor

Anti-terror prosecutor Roberto Rossi told The Sun: ''In an intercepted telephone conversation the arrested man was heard talking to associates about his time at Finsbury Park mosque in London.

''It was quite clear that he had studied there and there was talk of jihadist extremism at the mosque - he also described how he personally knew one of the imams who taught there but it wasn't Abu Hamza.''

French authorities have established Paris attackers had 14 fake Belgian identity documents from the same manufacturer which helped them plan the attacks by renting flats, travelling around Europe to set up the terrorist cell and withdraw money.

Italian police said that since 2010, Touami and his brothers also had contact with Amedy Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi, two of the extremists involved in the Charlie Hebdo shooting.

Anti terror police chief Fabio Berrilli said: ''This arrest was due to excellent international collaboration. 

"The investigations have made it possible to ascertain the proximity of the suspect to radical jihadist environments, as well as his direct support to the authors of the terrorist attacks at the Bataclan theatre.''

Police cordon by the Finsbury Park mosque after attacker Darren Osborne, 51, drove a van into a crowd of people in 2017
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Police cordon by the Finsbury Park mosque after attacker Darren Osborne, 51, drove a van into a crowd of people in 2017Credit: PA:Press Association
Emergency workers help victims of the Bataclan attack in 2015
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Emergency workers help victims of the Bataclan attack in 2015Credit: Reuters