Two Afghan migrants are suspected of planning terror attacks in Britain

The anti-terror squad in Italy have been unable to crack open an iPhone seized five months ago from an associate of the jihadi gang.

Officers investigating the four-man suspected jihadi cell in Bari have been trying to unlock the Apple gadget belonging to Mansoor Ahmadzai since December.

They fear it may contain photos and information vital to thwarting any planned terror plots – but believe it would be ‘pointless’ to ask Apple for help.

Ahmadzai is one of a group which had ‘terror target’ photos of London on their other phones.

Among them, Afghan Hakim Nasiri, arrested on Tuesday, who had pictures of himself posing with an American military rifle in what police have told MailOnline is likely to be an English supermarket.

'British supermarket': Italian police say this chilling photo of ISIS terror suspect Hakim Nasri may have been taken in a UK store. Circled are what appears to resemble British brand blue top full fat milk and plantain chips

Landmarks: Recce photos of the capital's landmarks were found on the ISIS terror suspects' mobile phones. The Emirates Airline cable car in east London was pictured (left) as was the Sunborn Yacht Hotel (right)

The gang were stopped by police in Bari, southern Italy, last December for ‘acting suspiciously’ while filming a shopping centre.

Police let them go but kept their phones. They have successful cracked the Samsung and Nokia models, discovering images of target sites including the local airport and a shopping centre, but have been thwarted by Apple’s security.

Italian authorities said they had not asked Apple for help, because of the recent case in America in which the FBI took the iPhone maker to court to try to force it to help crack phones in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting last year.

FBI technicians eventually broke into the gunman’s iPhone by themselves.

Bari prosecutor Dr Roberto Rossi told the Mail: ‘If Apple won’t open it for the FBI, they are not going to open it for us. It is useless to ask.

‘It cost the FBI six million dollars to break into it. We don’t have that kind of money.’

The iPhone 6-Plus used by Ahmadzai has military-grade encryption to protect its data including photographs.

Three members were arrested in Italy after the pictures of suspected targets were discovered on their mobile phones, although one is not considered a terror suspect.

Two - Surgul Ahmadzai, 28, and Qari Khesta Mir Ahmadzai, 30 - left the country, and remain on the run before they could be arrested.

Among the images is Nasiri, posing with a high-powered MS16 weapon, in front products with English labels, like 'Plantain Chips' and a trolley full of bottles of what resemble bottles of blue cap full fat milk.

Colonel Vincenzo Molinese, Provincial Commander of the Bari Carabinieri, told MailOnline: ‘The phone images of Hakim holding a machine gun were probably taken in the back room of a supermarket in England.'

Gesture: Afghan Nisiri, nicknamed 'human bomb' had photos taken of himself putting up his middle fingers to a poster of Malala Yousafzai, girls' rights campaigner (left) and with an American rifle in a supermarket

Targets: These photos of Rome's Colosseum (left) and the departure lounge at Bari Airport were discovered by Italian police on the suspected jihadis' phones

Pose: Police seized the suspected ISIS jihadis' phone in December and on them found This photo of two men posing at what appears to be Bari docks was found on the gang's mobile phone

Recces: Meanwhile he was taking sinister photos of landmarks including tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants in London, Paris, Rome and Bari

The Home Office could not explain how Ahmadzai - who was arrested at an Italian refugee centre just days after he had been granted provisional political asylum on May 5 - had been able to travel to Britain, and how long he had stayed.

Police also found mobile phone photographs apparently showing disturbing reconnaissance pictures of London landmarks including the 'Emirates Air Line' cable car.

One of the hotels photographed included the Premier Inn which is situated in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, 200 yards from the Olympic Park, and the Sunborn Yacht Hotel.

Police said there were also pictures of sites in Rome, Paris and Bari.

Also discovered was a photo of the 23-year-old Afghan putting up his middle fingers to a poster of Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for standing up for girls’ rights.

Police - who have not found any weapons - had the group under surveillance and swooped on Tuesday as one of them was preparing to travel to Calais.

'Peace': Nasri, 23, even had taken a selfie with who is believed to be the mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro, during a march to show solidarity with immigrant citizens in September

Terror in the crowd: The sinister suspected ISIS terror plotter (circled) was lurking in the crowd during last September's peace parade in Bari

It is suspected the cell was planning to exploit migrant routes into Europe and slip terrorists into the UK through Calais.

There were reports that one of the terror cell's members had hunted for an assault rifle in Britain for another suspect.

Discovered: Nasiri was pictured posing with two unnamed children in front of a police car on the handset seized by police

Also arrested were Afghan Gulistan Ahmadzai, 29, and Pakistani Zulfiqar Amjad, 24, both of whom are suspected of aiding illegal immigration.

The pair still on the run are believed to have fled to Kabul in Afghanistan, after slipping through the net following their European trip in December.

They were able to visit seven cities in nine days paying budget airline fares in cash.

It is understood all four suspects had been granted refugee status in Italy, meaning they would have been able to take advantage of Europe's open borders to move freely around the continent.

Italian police said the migrants had been handed documents equivalent to EU passports which enabled them to travel between countries in the Schengen zone - which does not include the UK. - despite the fact undercover detectives posing as refugees inside the camp had been trailing Nasiri since December.

The ease with which the suspects were able to fly around Europe will fuel claims that the continent's open borders are a security risk.

Investigators also found a list of prices for smuggling migrants into Europe and information about trafficking activity in Italy and Calais.

They said most of the group's activities used Greece and Turkey as access points to Europe, but were unable to explain how two members of the cell were able to slip through the net.

Italian prosecutor Roberto Rossi told a news conference there was no evidence that an attack was imminent, 'but it is clear they were making preparations'.

The suspects were all officially living near Bari, the main city in Puglia, which has become a magnet for jihadis.

This graphic shows suspected targets in Britain including several in east London's Docklands, a hotel at West India Quay, the luxury Sunborn yacht hotel in Royal Victoria Dock and an Ibis hotel nearby

They allegedly provided logistical support to an international organisation linked to Islamic State, investigators claimed.

Of the mobile phone evidence, Mr Rossi said the large number of photos of certain sites 'where tourists in general don't take pictures... they assume an extremely strong meaning'.

The two arrested Afghans were described as 'human bombs' by Right-wing politician Roberto Calderoli of the Northern League.