- Trevor Brooks, known as Abu Izzadeen, was stopped on train to Romania
- 44-year-old offered Islam's Holy Book when stopped by police on Saturday
- He was with second Briton who also served jail term for funding terrorism
- Police realised after men were held that they were banned from leaving UK
A British hate preacher who is banned from leaving the UK after being convicted for terrorism offences has been arrested in Hungary - where he tried to use the Koran as his ID.
Trevor Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen, an infamous Islamist extremist who was jailed in 2008 for financing terrorism, was stopped by officers on Saturday at Lokoshaza - a crossing point on the Hungarian border - while bound for Romania on a train.
When the 44-year-old was stopped Saturday, he reportedly presented officers with Islam's Holy Book as his form of identification.
British hate preacher Trevor Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen (pictured in 2006), who has been banned from leaving the UK after financing terrorism, has been held in Hungary - and gave officers the Koran for ID
Izzadeen, a London-born former Christian who converted to Islam on the eve of his 18th birthday, was with a second British man, according to Hungarian authorities.
They named him as Simon Jonathan K, 40, who has also served time in prison for funding terrorism.
Police said the pair were both were barred from leaving Britain without permission when they were released in 2009.
The two men were taken into custody by Hungarian police because they did not have legal documents entitling them to stay in the EU member state.
It only emerged that they were subject to a European arrest warrant after they were detained, police spokeswoman Viktoria Csiszer-Kovacs told AFP. The men are due to appear in court in Budapest to over their possible extradition.
A spokesman said it was unclear what the men had been travelling, although it was possible they were on their way to Syria via Bulgaria and Turkey.
There was no suggestion that the men were implicated in Friday's deadly attacks in Paris.
Izzadeen was born to a Christian Jamaican family in London and worked as an electrician.
He gained notoriety in 2006 after heckling Britain's then-home secretary John Reid live on television.
He also refused to condemn the 7/7 bombings in London and described then-prime minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush as the 'real terrorists' for invading Iraq and Afghanistan.
THE FATHER-OF-THREE RADICALISED AS A TEEN WHO GAINED NOTORIETY AFTER CALLING THE HOME SECRETARY AN 'ENEMY OF ISLAM'
Abu Izzadeen, an outspoken Muslim activist, gained notoriety in 2006 after launching a furious tirade against then Home Secretary John Reid
Abu Izzadeen, an outspoken Muslim activist, gained notoriety in 2006 after launching a furious tirade during a speech to Muslims by then Home Secretary John Reid.
In front of TV cameras, he denounced Mr Reid as a 'tyrant' and an 'enemy of Islam' before being escorted out by security guards.
He also made inflammatory speeches at the Regent's Park mosque in central London on November 9 2004 - when U.S. forces began their battle for the city of Fallujah in Iraq.
Izzadeen denounced the fighting in speeches made inside the mosque and later, after a clash with the Muslim authorities, out on the street. They were part of the notorious extremist group Al-Muhajiroun.
The married father of three later urged a boycott of the Poppy Appeal, claiming anyone who wore a poppy to mark Remembrance Day ‘supported the murder of Muslims’.
In 2008, Izzadeen was jailed for four and a half years for terror-related offences. He was the first white Muslim to be found guilty of terror charges in Britain.
The former electrician and fluent Arabic speaker was sentenced to two and a half years for the offence of fundraising for terrorism and four and half years for inciting terrorism overseas, to be served concurrently.
But he was released in May the following year after his sentence was cut on appeal. He was later recalled to prison for breaking his release conditions, related to good behaviour.
Izzadeen was born in Hackney, East London, and has a Jamaican background. He was raised as a Christian but converted to Islam when he was 17.
He became a hard-liner after coming across the preachings at Finsbury Park mosque of radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, also known as the 'Tottenham Ayatollah'.
Izzadeen eventually chose a new name, which means Might of the Faith in Arabic, and immersed himself in his new religion.
He has also been associated with Islamist firebrand Anjem Choudary. Like Choudary, he has lived off the state, claiming up to £1,000 a month in benefits while living in a council house in Leyton, East London.
Despite marrying when he was 23, he later advertised on the internet for three more wives and said he wanted ‘more than nine children’
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