What is a subject of interest and were London Bridge attackers Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba on the list?

AMBER Rudd told Parliament at the end of 2017 there are roughly 3,000 subjects of interest.

Here’s what the term means, why the police use it and why it became a controversial issue following the London Bridge terror attack.

What is a subject of interest?

A subject of interest is a person who has been “red-flagged” to police or MI5 and who might be at risk of planning a terrorist attack.

Speaking to Parliament in December 2017, Home Secretary Amber Rudd gave the House of Commons an update on the country’s anti-terror measures.

She said: “MI5 and Counter-Terrorism Policing are currently running well over 500 live operations – a third up since the beginning of the year – involving roughly 3,000 ‘subjects of interest’.

“In addition, there are over 20,000 further individuals – or closed subjects of interest – who have previously been investigated and may again pose a threat.”

Mrs Rudd added that over 20 Islamist terror plots had been disrupted by security forces since the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013.

Who were the London Bridge attackers?

Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane, both from Barking, east London and Youssef Zaghba, 23, carried out the heinous atrocity.

Butt, 27, was a British citizen who emigrated from Pakistan.

Redouane, 30, had claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan.

He also used the name Rachid Elkhdar.

It is believed Zaghba worked in a restaurant in London after being stopped at Bologna Airport in March last year when he tried to travel to Syria via Turkey, claims.

Were Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba on the subject of interest list?

On the subject of whether the attackers were on the “subject of interest” list, the Met said: “Khuram Shazad Butt was known to the police and MI5.

“However, there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritised accordingly. ”

It has been revealed that Butt appeared in the Channel 4 documentary, The Jihadis Next Door last year.

He was filmed praying with a black ISIS flag.

Despite 1.2 million tuning in — and the jihad beast being under investigation – he managed to keep hiding in plain sight from police and MI5.

After once being seen as one of the UK’s biggest dangermen, he slipped down the ­priority list.

The Met also confirmed, Redouane, “was not known” to police.

An Italian website claimed Moroccan and “British authorities” were tipped off about Zaghba’s movements after he was charged and later cleared on international terrorism charges and placed on a “persons at risk” list.

But a statement from the Met’s Counter-Terrorism Command say he was “not a police or MI5 subject of interest”.

What happened in the London Bridge attack?

Three terrorists wearing stab-proof vests drove a van into pedestrians at 50mph on London Bridge before attacking revellers with hunting knives.

In a rampage lasting little over eight minutes saw the terrorist gang stabbing and slashing at innocent victims with 12-inch blades.

One officer was seriously wounded before heroic cops gunned down extremists within eight minutes of first emergency call at 10.08 pm.

After ploughing a white van into several pedestrians on London Bridge, the killers ran down a flight of stairs at the side of London Bridge towards Cafe Brood near Borough Market.

The terrorists “hesitated” then ran down the road and began to attack drinkers in the nearby Mudlark pub before entering Borough Market itself.

An eyewitness said it was not long before they had completed a loop of the market and came back to Cafe Brood before continuing onto the Black and Blue restaurant where they were finally gunned down by police.

After the attack police evacuated many of the survivors from Borough Market to Liverpool Street where they took witness statements and kept witnesses inside until Sunday morning.