Sunday, January 22, 2017

Anjem Choudary’s terror cell which wanted ‘trucks full of explosives on Oxford Street’

  • A pair of extremists with links to hate preacher Anjem Choudary are facing jail
  • Both accused of playing part in drumming up support for 'vicious' Islamic State
  • Covert officer infiltrated the Luton chapter of the banned group Al-Muhajiroun
  • Mohammed Choudry, 23, was found guilty of encouraging support for ISIS
  • Zaiur Rahman guilty of arranging meetings in support of a banned organisation
An undercover police officer spent two years infiltrating a terror cell which drummed up support for ISIS in speeches calling for '40 trucks driving down Oxford Street full of explosives'.
The covert officer, identified only as Kamal, lived among members of banned group Al-Muhajiroun (ALM) in Luton.
During that time he visited their homes and shared meals in restaurants, while covertly recording their private meetings.
The undercover officer was given an assumed identity, complete with a fake wife and fake business. 
At the meetings, attended by up to 80 people including young children, the group praised ISIS and urged others to support the terror group and travel to Syria to fight.
Guilty: Mohammed Istiak Alamgir (pictured) was among five members of a terror cell who delivered hate speeches, along with Mohammed Choudry and Zaiur Rahman
Guilty: Mohammed Istiak Alamgir (pictured) was among five members of a terror cell who delivered hate speeches, along with Mohammed Choudry and Zaiur Rahman
Rajib Khan
Yousaf Bashir
At an earlier trial, three other members of the group - Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, Yousaf Bashir (right) and Rajib Khan (left), were convicted of their roles in spreading IS ideology
In one rant on July 2 2015, Mohammed Choudry, 23, spoke of '40 trucks driving down Oxford Street full of explosives', the Old Bailey was told.
He was heard to tell 40 people at the invitation-only meeting in the Bedfordshire town: 'A wave is coming - either be a part of it or you drown ... Either you like it or you don't like it.'
His co-defendant, Zaiur Rahman, 39, helped to organise a series of meetings in July 2015 held in a marquee in his back garden and at a nearby Anglican church in Luton.
In one rant on July 2, 2015, Mohammed Choudry said: ‘We’ve been suffering for so long but today we’ve been able to take our own revenge. 
Imagine an army, imagine the Muslims when they’re together like that you don’t need huge numbers.
‘Imagine tomorrow 40 trucks were to drive down Oxford Street full of explosives, you tell me who’s going to rise, who’s going to stand against those people?’ His father Iftikar, a former engineer, set up the first mosque in Theresa May’s constituency of Maidenhead, Berkshire, which she has visited several times.
Following a retrial, Choudry, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, was found guilty of encouraging support for ISIS, while Rahman, of Luton, was convicted of three counts of arranging meetings in support of a banned organisation.

Judge Michael Topolski QC told the pair: 'You, Zaiur Rahman, and you, Mohammed Sufiyam Choudry, have been convicted unanimously by this jury of arranging meetings and speaking at a meeting in support of a vicious terrorist organisation whose members and supporters - just like you two - have hijacked and corrupted the principles and practices of an ancient and revered religion for its own ends and purposes.

'You both will in due course be sentenced by me and can expect that sentence to be one of a term of imprisonment.'

A jury of seven men and three women delivered the guilty verdicts following 18 hours and 29 minutes of deliberations.

Following a separate Old Bailey trial last year, Anjem Choudary (pictured), 49, formerly chief spokesman for ALM, was jailed for five-and-a-half-years for encouraging support for ISIS
Following a separate Old Bailey trial last year, Anjem Choudary (pictured), 49, formerly chief spokesman for ALM, was jailed for five-and-a-half-years for encouraging support for ISIS

Rahman, wearing a padded sleeveless jacket, glasses and a grey sweatshirt, could be seen smiling in the dock following his conviction.

His co-defendant, wearing a black suit and white, open-necked shirt, displayed no emotion as the guilty verdict was delivered against him.

At the earlier trial, three other members of the group - Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, 37, Yousaf Bashir, 36 and Rajib Khan, 37, all from Luton - were convicted of their roles in spreading ISIS ideology.

The convictions came as a result of a Bedfordshire Police investigation into the activities of ALM in Luton in co-operation with the Metropolitan Police.

Among attendees at meetings were Islamic extremists Shazib and Junead Khan, who were also arrested for their activities.

Last May, delivery driver Junead Khan, 25, was jailed for life for plotting to kill a US soldier in the UK, while his uncle, Shazib Khan, 23, was handed an extended sentence of 13 years for his plans to fight in Syria.

During the gatherings, Rajib Khan hailed the Charlie Hebdo terror atrocity in Paris while Alamgir collected money for legal fees of convicted terrorist and ALM leader Omar Bakri Muhammed.

Following arrests in December 2015, police seized more than 270 electronic devices and recovered some 500 images and videos, including footage of Rajib Khan and Alamgir eating with Muhammed by a beach.

Bashir was found guilty of one count of addressing a meeting to encourage support for a proscribed organisation.

Khan was found guilty of one count of arranging or assisting in arranging and managing a meeting to support a proscribed organisation and one count of addressing a meeting to encourage support for a proscribed organisation.

Alamgir was found guilty of three counts of addressing a meeting to encourage support for a proscribed organisation.

They will be sentenced alongside Choudry and Rahman at the Old Bailey on a date to be fixed.

Following a separate Old Bailey trial last year, Anjem Choudary, 49, formerly chief spokesman for ALM, was jailed for five-and-a-half-years for encouraging support for ISIS. He has since asked for permission to appeal against his conviction.


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