This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3569

Three UK Muslims convicted of planning terror attacks -targetted the Queen and royal family

August 19, 2008

Jail for terror document cousins

Aabid Khan and Sultan Muhammad are cousins A man described as a "key player" in the radicalisation of young Muslims has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Aabid Khan, 23, from Bradford, was one of three men convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court of possessing or making documents promoting terrorism. Khan's cousin Sultan Muhammad, 23, also from Bradford, was sentenced to 10 years in jail. The judge said it was one of the most serious cases of its kind to have come before the courts. Britain's youngest convicted terrorist Hammaad Munshi, 18, from Dewsbury, will be sentenced next month. He was just 16 when he was arrested on his way home from school. Police later found a guide to making napalm on his computer. He was found guilty of making a record of information but cleared of a possession offence. He will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 19 September. 'Violent jihad' Former fast food restaurant worker Khan was arrested at Manchester Airport in June 2006 on his return from a trip to Pakistan. Munshi will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in September He was found guilty of possessing articles for a purpose connected with terrorism, but cleared of a similar charge. Muhammad, who was a night sorter for the Royal Mail, was convicted of three similar charges and one of making a record of information likely to be useful in terrorism. Judge Timothy Pontius said they had not been convicted of planning a specific attack. But he said the material was "amongst the largest and most extensive ever discovered and thus makes this case one of the most serious of its type to come before the courts". 'Assist terrorism' Much of the material could be described as "offensive propaganda", he said, which gave an insight into people's "fanatical beliefs". But he said there was a "huge quantity" of material which had precise instructions on how to carry out terrorist activity. "It is that material ... which was possessed by you for a specific intention, to be used in due course to provide practical assistance in terrorist activity," he said. This included computer files and manuals about acetone - a component of explosives - and how to make napalm. Judge Pontius added: "Perhaps most chillingly of all was the vest folder demonstrating in careful, methodical and lethal detail the step-by-step instructions of how to make a suicide bombers' vest or belt packed with ball bearings and explosives." Khan had addresses of 15 members of the royal family Twice-married Khan had developed an all-consuming hatred of non-Muslims, the court had previously heard. The three-month trial heard that when he was stopped at Manchester airport, police found the largest cyber "encyclopaedia" of articles promoting terrorism yet seized in Britain in his luggage. It included personal information and the addresses of 15 members of the royal family, among them the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. The defendants had used defences of "hoarding", "curiosity" and that the material "belonged to others" to explain the finds. Khan's father, Sabir, had to be forced from court by security officials as the judge passed sentence after accusing him of being "anti-Muslim" and indulging in "hype". He punched a reporter to the floor when he was asked his name when he got outside. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7570134.stm SEE ALSO Trio guilty over terror documents 18 Aug 08 | UK Aabid Khan and his global jihad 18 Aug 08 | UK Suspects 'amassed terror library' 09 Jun 08 | UK

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Islamic terror cell 'may have been plotting to attack Queen'

A terror cell caught with details of bomb-making and suicide vests may have been plotting to attack the Queen and members of the Royal family, it can be disclosed.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:55PM BST 19 Aug 2008
The Daily Telegraph (London)
http://tinyurl.com/5udh5g

Aabid Hussain Khan: gathered details of Royal residences Photo: PA

The cell, which included Britain's youngest ever terrorist, arrested on his way home from his GCSE chemistry exam, was found with information about the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh along with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex and the Princess Royal.

Also on the list were Princess Michael of Kent, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and The Duke and Duchess of Kent.

Aabid Hussain Khan, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, had compiled pictures, maps and details of the opening hours of official residences from information available on the internet.

There were also details of London landmarks including the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge and the underground as well as the New York and Washington metros and a home-made video of the Washington Memorial and World Bank in the US.

A counter-terrorism source said: "They had details of explosives and poisons along with information about London landmarks and a computer folder on Royal residences. We would be foolish to rule out the fact that they may have been planning an attack."

Detective Chief Superintendent John Parkinson, Head of the Counter Terrorism Unit in Leeds, said the men posed a "very real threat".

He added: "Let there be no doubt, these are dangerous individuals. These men were not simply in possession of material which expressed extremist views. They were also in possession of material that was operationally useful to anyone wishing to carry out an act of violence or terrorism."

Khan, 23, was yesterday convicted of three counts of possessing articles for terrorism but the jury was not told he was part of a network of international terrorists in Europe and North America.

It can now be revealed that Khan was closely connected to the alleged leader of a group of men currently awaiting trial for plotting an attack.

Khan, using the name Ocean Blue, was also in regular contact with an aspiring suicide bomber in Edinburgh, Mohammed Atif Siddique.

He had also communicated regularly with three terrorists who ran websites for Al-Qaeda in Iraq from London and Kent.

Khan groomed Hammaad Munshi, then 15, the grandson of the head of a sharia court in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Munshi, who lived with his parents and four brothers, was carrying two small bags of ball bearings, a key component of a suicide vest, when he was arrested on his way home from Westborough High School in Dewsbury on the afternoon of June 2006.

He had been running his own website selling knives and Islamic flags and using the online identity Fidadee – meaning "to die for" - on the auction website ebay.

He also had hand-written notes on martyrdom and had created and circulated technical documents via email and secure web forums on how to make Napalm, how to make a detonator and the production of home made explosives.

Operation Praline, run by the Counter-Terrorism Unit in Leeds, was sparked when police, acting on intelligence, stopped Khan at Manchester airport as he returned from Pakistan.

Officers found two computer hard drives, DVDs, forged currency, false identification papers, handwritten notes and correspondence.

Mr Denison said the collection amounted to a "terrorist encyclopaedia or library that would have enabled him or others to carry out terrorist attacks here or abroad in a variety of ways, and thereby to further the cause that appeared to be his mission in life - the war on western values and anyone who was a non-believer in the Muslim faith."

Khan, an unemployed burger-bar worker, who used the email name Delboy and FoolsandHorses claimed he was selling Islamic streetware.

It took detectives some time to unravel all Khan's aliases and some of the conversations he held in internet chat rooms, which were found on the hard drives, were discovered too late for the trial.

Khan wrote to one recipient: "If you can find a big target and take it out, like a military base in the UK, then praise be to Allah.

"Our group is growing. We need to plan better and to adapt now a few more people are showing interest. We need to confirm and to encourage...I want to have a group of at least 12 if possible."

He reassured another correspondent who had told him: "I am not too sure about strapping a bomb to myself anymore."

He also talked of explosives, warning: "You need to take care to store them in low temperatures otherwise they can kill. They must not come into contact with fire, oil or detergent."

Another associate, Sultan Muhammed, 23, a postman from Bradford, fled to London with £1,265 in cash following Khan's arrest.

When police raided his house they found maps of the London Underground, Jerusalem and Manhattan and a book entitled Suicide Bombings.

"Perhaps one of the most chilling videos was one that provided a step-by-step guide as to how to make a suicide bomber's vest, using ball bearings as shrapnel and demonstrating the effects of such a bomb," Mr Denison said.

Muhammed was found guilty of three charges of possessing articles useful for terrorism and another charge of making a record of useful for terrorism.

Munshi, now 18, was convicted of making a record useful for terrorism. A fourth defendant, Ahmed Sulieman, 30, from south London, was cleared of all charges.

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Terrorist mentor Aabid Hussain Khan jailed for 12 years

The leader of a terrorist cell who downloaded information about the royal family has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:55PM BST 19 Aug 2008
The Daily Telegraph (London) -
http://tinyurl.com/6qtswt

Aabid Hussain Khan: gathered details of Royal residences Photo: PA

Aabid Hussain Khan was told he had shown a "dedicated and unswerving devotion" to the pursuit of fanaticism."

His co-accused, Sultan Muhammed, was sentenced to 10 years in jail and, Hammaad Munshi, Britain's youngest terrorist who was 16 when he was arrested, will be sentenced next month.

Sentencing Khan and Muhammed, both 23, on three counts of possessing articles for terrorism, Judge Timothy Pontius told them they had not been found guilty of preparing an attack because "the particular time and place had yet to be finalised."

But he said the amount of material Khan and Muhammed had compiled made it among the most serious cases to come before the courts short of preparing an attack.

Much of what was downloaded, including films of executions, was of a "particularly repulsive nature" and showed his "fanatical and perverted beliefs" the judge said.

He added: "There is a huge quantity of material which does have a specific practical value to anyone who wants to carry out terrorist activity."

He referred particularly to compiling information about explosives including acetone peroxide, ammonium nitrate and napalm along with wireless detonation and letter bombs.

There were also details of the residences and opening hours for the homes of the Queen and several other members of the royal family.

"Perhaps the most significant evidence was a video showing careful and methodical details about the construction of a suicide bomber's belt packed with ball bearings," the judge said.

"During the playing of that 20 minute video the stunned silence in court was a telling reflection of the collective horror felt by such a potent demonstration of terrorist resolve."

The judge said the evidence was "significant, compelling and incontrovertible" and the men had shown clear intent.

"You have brought shame on yourselves, your families and your religion," he added.

As the judge spoke, Khan's father, Sabir, shouted: "This is just hype. These are anti-Muslim laws" before he was thrown out of court.

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3569