Preacher who may have radicalized London attacker lives in America

One of the three jihadists who carried out a deadly attack on London Bridge on Sunday night may have been radicalized by a preacher living in Dearborn, Michigan, according to reports.

The Telegraph reports that a former friend of one of the attackers claimed he had been radicalized while watching the YouTube sermons of Ahmad Musa Jibril, an Arab-American Islamist preacher who is thought to have influenced Westerners to fight in the Syrian conflict.

The friend, who has not been named at the request of police, told the BBC's Asian Network that he contacted authorities after becoming concerned over his friend's extremist beliefs.

"We spoke about a particular attack that happened and like most radicals he had a justification for anything and everything and that day I realized I needed to contact the authorities," he told the outlet.

"He used to listen to a lot of Musa Jibril," the man continued. "I have heard some of this stuff and it's very radical. I am surprised this stuff is still on YouTube and is easily accessible. I phoned the anti-terror hotline. I spoke to the gentleman. I told him about our conversation and why I think he was radicalized."

According to the friend, police did little to nothing to intervene in the situation.

"I did my bit, I know a lot of other people did their bit, but the authorities did not do their bit," he said.

Jibril has a sordid past in the United States.

He was banned from at least two Michigan mosques due to his extremist views, according to CounterExtremism.com. He also spent seven years behind bars on fraud charges before he was released on probation in 2012.

Although Jibril's social media activity was briefly restricted by a federal judge in 2014, his sermons are still widely shared by online jihadists.

Tributes to the victims of the London Bridge attack: