The parents of the Manchester Arena bomber are among six people sought by detectives for questioning, legal papers have revealed.
Salman Abedi’s father, Ramadan, is wanted after his fingerprints were found in a Nissan Micra used by the terrorist and his brother Hashem to store explosives.
Ramadan flew with the Abedi brothers to Libya in April 2017, the month before the attack, and has not returned.
Police also want to speak to Abedi’s mother, Samia Tabbal, who is similarly in Libya.
Four others are also being sought in connection to the bombing on May 22, 2017 which killed 22 people and injured dozens more at an Ariana Grande concert.
Hashem (left) and Salman (right) Abedi murdered 22 people at Manchester Arena in 2017 when Salman detonated a bomb inside the stadium
Salman Abedi’s father, Ramadan (pictured), is wanted after his fingerprints were found in a Nissan Micra used by the terrorist and his brother Hashem to store explosives
One of the outstanding suspects named in the legal document is Elyas Elmehdi (pictured), whose flat the car was parked outside while Salman and Hashem were in Libya
The wanted six have been disclosed for the first time after the BBC and other media organisations successfully challenged a ruling at the Manchester Arena Inquiry to keep them confidential.
One of the outstanding suspects named in the legal document is Elyas Elmehdi, whose flat the car was parked outside while Salman and Hashem were in Libya.
Elmehdi was arrested by police in the aftermath of the bombing and remained a suspect following release.
But he managed to flee to Libya, despite also facing drug-related charges in Manchester.
Elmehdi (pictured) was arrested by police in the aftermath of the bombing and remained a suspect following release
Documents also name Mohammed Soliman as a suspect – he is alleged to have bought the chemicals to manufacture the bomb, but flew to Libya in April 2017
The ruling reveals that Elmehdi was an associate of Salman Abedi, who immediately returned to the Nissan Micra parked outside Elmehdi’s flat on his return from Libya in the days before the bombing.
Documents also name Mohammed Soliman as a suspect – he is alleged to have bought the chemicals to manufacture the bomb, but flew to Libya in April 2017.
Ramadan Abedi, Tabbal, Elmehdi and Soliman are all suspects in the case, but police also want to speak to two others described as ‘trace/interview/eliminate subjects’ according to the BBC.
These are Majdi Alamari, who resides in Libya, and Anas Abuhdaima, who the BBC reckons is originally from Manchester and remains in the UK.
Following the blast, Ramadan Abedi was tracked down and arrested in Libya but was subsequently released and disappeared.
In March of this year sources told the Daily Telegraph the former Libyan civil servant was later receiving medical treatment in Istanbul, Turkey.
His son Hashem Abedi was also tracked down in the aftermath of the blast and extradited to the UK to face trial.
He was convicted of 22 counts of murder after found to have co-conspired with brother Salman to carry out the attack, and subsequently sentenced to 55 years minimum in prison.
During his trial, it emerged their mother, Samia Tabbal, was still being paid housing benefit tax credits and child benefit worth an estimated £190,000 – about £2,200 every month – right up until the 2017 blast despite returning to Libya.
The public inquiry into the attack is ongoing and this week heard how Salman Abedi managed to overcome security at the arena because he ‘blended in too well’.
On Monday, counsel to the inquiry Paul Greaney QC asked James Allen, Arena general manager: ‘Salman Abedi was 22 years of age, he was a dropout from university, he was entirely undistinguished in life and he even struggled to work out how to get into the toilets in the station.
‘How was it that he managed to defeat the security arrangements at the Arena that night?’ Mr Allen replied: ‘Because I believe he blended in too well.’