The Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officer tasked with interrogating an alleged Saudi intelligence officer just days after 9/11 has told ITV News that evidence known to the FBI but not given to UK investigators would have stopped his release.
Speaking for the first time in an exclusive sit-down interview, former detective David Campbell has shared his account of the investigation that could have been crucial to establishing responsibility for the terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th 2001.
DC David Campbell told ITV News Global Security Editor Rohit Kachroo that Omar Al Bayoumi, who is alleged to have provided financial backing and support to the 9/11 hijackers, was “literally conducting a reconnaissance video” unseen to him at the time Al Bayoumi was arrested.
Omar Al-Bayoumi was arrested in Birmingham days after the atrocity and interviewed in London by counter-terrorism police. Among the evidence collected was a drawing of a plane alongside calculations that could be used to work out its descent were found, along with 80 videos of Bayoumi with the two attackers. Another video showed Bayoumi filming Capitol Hill in Washington.
The evidence was confiscated by police operating under an FBI warrant, but some items were never passed on to the British police interrogating al-Bayoumi.
Additional reporting by Liz Harris and Amardeep Bassey.
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The FBI declined to comment when asked by ITV News for its response to David Campbell’s has interview.
The US Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has consistently denied involvement in the planning of the 9/11 attacks.
Omar al-Bayoumi has said he was a civil servant, pursuing his education in the US who met the 9/11 hijackers by coincidence.
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