Why wasn't he deported?

Now, they're interested in him....

In the meanwhile, the investigation into the perpetrators of the attacks appeared to be focusing on a Moroccan national who has mysteriously gone missing from the British capital in recent days.

Scotland Yard and MI5 have urgently requested help from European agencies in tracking down a Moroccan national who has been living in Britain for 16 years and who is suspected of past terrorist activity in Europe and North Africa, the daily newspaper The Independent reported in Saturday editions.

Mohammed al-Gerbouzi, who has also been linked to terrorist attacks in Madrid and Casablanca, disappeared from his home in London recently.

French and German security officials have accused al-Gerbouzi of having links with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of the Islamic insurgency in Iraq said to be connected to Al-Qaida, the newspaper reported.

Morocco has repeatedly requested the British government extradite al-Gerbouzi, who was granted political asylum in the UK. Al-Gerbouzi was convicted of involvement in terrorist attacks in Casablanca which killed 44 people. After being tried in absentia, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Independent reported.