UK Intelligence Investigated Texas Hostage Taker: Reports

US authorities identified the captor as British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, 44, who was shot dead in a 10-hour siege in the small town of Colleyville on Saturday.

British security services recently investigated the man behind a hostage taking at a synagogue in Texas but deemed he posed no threat, media reports said Tuesday.

US authorities identified the captor as British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, 44, who was shot dead in a 10-hour siege in the small town of Colleyville on Saturday.

Britain's MI5 domestic intelligence agency received information about Akram, who came from Blackburn in northwest England, in 2020, prompting an investigation, several news outlets said, citing unnamed government sources.

But it was shut down again after a little over a month due to lack of evidence that he was a threat, the report added. The agency is now expected to review the investigation.