New Zealand officials on Saturday confirmed the name of the attacker who stabbed seven people at an Auckland supermarket before police killed him. Officials said Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen, 32, was the Islamic State-inspired extremist killed by police on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
Samsudeen was 22 when he arrived in New Zealand in 2011 on a student visa. Police spotted him in 2016 when Samsudeen showed sympathy for the terrorist attacks and defended violent extremism on Facebook. His online activity related to extremist things continued even after the police spoke to him twice.
Samsudeen was finally arrested in May 2017 at Auckland International Airport as police believed he was on his way to Syria. He was charged with possession of restricted publications, of which he pleaded guilty. While on bail, he bought a knife and was arrested again.
The assailant spent months in jail, but police were unable to keep him longer as he was unable to impose any additional charges under the current Knife Suppression Terrorism Act and online publications. They had to release Samsudeen in mid-July this year, but continued to track all their movements.
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Disguised officers began acting while the attacker was getting ready at an Auckland supermarket. Samsudeen was shot dead within minutes of the attack.
“As you can see, the agencies used all available tools to protect innocent people from this individual,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a news conference on Saturday.
“But we owe it to everyone to have other people analyze the facts of this case as well, to analyze them, to see what was done and what more could have been done.”
Ardern had previously confirmed that five of the stabbed victims were in a hospital, three of whom were in critical condition. Although Ardern said he could provide details about the attacker’s criminal history, he did not reveal his name.
“I can’t share his name either, but I would like to note that this is not something he intended to share regardless of the court ruling. No terrorist, whether alive or dead, deserves his name to be shared by infamy. they were looking for, ”the New Zealand Prime Minister had said.
(With contributions from agencies)