MI5 probe as London man charged

The decision to charge a London-based Islamist radical with conspiracy to murder following the 11 September atrocities will trigger an internal inquiry within MI5.

As former Brixton resident Zacarias Moussaoui, 33, was accused on six charges, which could result in the death penalty, security officials are reviewing allegations from the French secret services that MI5 was told about him in 1994.

A security source said today: "Officials will have to answer, 'What exactly did we know and are there any other names we were given? Have we covered those?' The minister will want to know if this is true and the Director General will have to give him a report. But they will also want to be sure this is not just a case of the French covering their backs because they should have done more about him."

It is claimed that Moussaoui came to the attention of British security services when French anti-terrorist judge Roger Leloire visited London as part of his investigation into the murders of three French officials in Algeria. The French did not know Moussaoui played an "important role" in Bin Laden's terrorist network but requested he be put under surveillance.

British security officials have said the French never provided specific details about Moussaoui.

He was arrested on a passport violation while attending a flight school in Minnesota in August. He raised suspicions when he said he had no wish to learn how to take off or land, and has spent the past three months being held as a material witness at a high-security correctional centre in New York.

FBI director Robert Mueller said that Ramsi bin al-Shibh, a Yemeni fugitive, was meant to be the fifth man on Flight 93, which crashed outside Pittsburgh after passengers fought back. The plane had four hijackers while the other three used in the day's attacks were hijacked by teams of five. But al-Shibh had made four unsuccessful attempts to get into the US, and Moussaoui was chosen to replace him, Mr Mueller said.

Moussaoui has been charged on six counts of conspiracy, four of which carry the death penalty, and one involving plotting to use weapons of mass destruction. This is assumed to refer to attempts he made to hire a crop spraying plane. It has now emerged that he made numerous telephone calls to known associates of the 11 September hijack gang who were then living in Hamburg, and received £10,500 in bank transfers from them shortly before setting off to Minnesota for flight simulation training.

He has refused to talk to the authorities but has written to his mother assuring her that he is innocent.