A home-grown terror gang facing life in jail for plotting ‘another 9/11’ were today ordered to ‘stay quiet’ by a crown court judge as they laughed and joked in the dock while awaiting sentence.
The 11 men, all from Birmingham, were ordered to be silent by Mr Justice Henriques at Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London and did not appear fazed by their impending prison sentences.
The men, aged from 21 to 34, whom the court heard wanted to kill up to 2,000 Britons, are expected to be sentenced on Friday - but the hearing started today because there are so many defendants.
Sketch: The group's members Irfan Naseer, Rahin Ahmed and Ashik Ali are pictured (left to right) in court today
The ‘chief financier’ of the jihadist cell joked about stealing money from charities, the court heard.
Rahin Ahmed, 26, acted as fundraiser for the gang, who aimed to explode eight rucksack bombs and possibly other devices in crowded places in the UK.
Under the cover of legitimate street collections for Muslim Aid and local Islamic learning centre Madrasah-e Ashraful Uloom, he stole thousands of pounds to fund the planned attacks in 2011.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC told the sentencing hearing that Ahmed had joked to one accomplice: ‘I’ve got so much Muslim Aid money I’m stealing, I have to bank it all,’ and then laughed.
Mr Altman told the court that ‘Ahmed had a large part to play not only collecting money, but also in investing and managing the money collected’.
More...
Britain strikes fair trial deal with Jordan to deport Abu Qatada but Theresa May warns it could still take months to kick out cleric
'Sick' Boston Marathon bombing game which shows dead and injured runners lying on the street hits the internet
UK under threat from terror attack launched by 'substantial numbers' of Brits fighting with Syrian rebels, William Hague warns
He and others would wear high-visibility tabards and carry buckets to collect money from ‘unsuspecting passers-by’.
Ahmed banked over £13,500 from his fundraising activities, but only passed on £1,500 to Muslim Aid and £900 to Madrasah-e Ashraful Uloom.
He then set up a Forex capital markets trading account, lying about his qualifications and claiming that his net worth was between of £100,000 and £250,000 and he had liquid assets of up to £50,000.
Planning to boost the group’s funds by investing in commodities such as gold, he instead lost over £9,000 and the group’s trust.
Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 28, and Ashik Ali, 28 - the group’s three leaders - have been warned they face life imprisonment after they were found guilty of masterminding the plot in February.
Plans: West Midlands Police photo of Irfan Nasser, Rahin Ahmed and Irfan Khalid at Birmingham Airport. They are part of a home-grown terror gang facing life in jail for plotting 'another 9/11'
They will be sentenced during a three-day hearing together with eight other defendants who pleaded guilty to terror offences before they could face trial, including Ahmed.
Ahmed, from Moseley, admitted engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts by collecting, investing and managing money for terrorist acts.
Guilty: Rahin Ahmed, 26, acted as fundraiser for the gang, who aimed to explode eight rucksack bombs
He also pleaded guilty to assisting others to travel to Pakistan for training in terrorism.
Judge Mr Justice Henriques said that ‘conservative estimates’ suggested the group had raised a total of £39,000 for their cause.
This is believed to include money stolen from Muslim Aid and the madrasa, Ahmed’s own money and other sources.
The court heard that Naseer claimed that ‘blowing yourself up with a rucksack bag is not such a hard thing to do’ and envisaged attacking synagogues in the UK or a ‘Mumbai-style attack’ with guns.
As part of the plot, the ringleaders sent four youngsters to Pakistan to train for terrorism in August 2011, the court heard.
Shahid Khan, 21, Khobaib Hussain, 21, Ishaaq Hussain, 21, and Naweed Ali, 25, all from the Sparkhill area, were sent in pairs from Birmingham International Airport on separate days.
They told their families they were travelling to attend a madrasa and were expected to return to the UK in October.
However, Khobaib Hussain, Ishaaq Hussain and Ali returned just three days later after a relative got wind of the sinister motives for their journey, with only Khan remaining abroad for the expected duration.
All four have pleaded guilty to engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts by travelling to Pakistan for training in terrorism.
Funding: Irfan Nasser, Rahin Ahmed and Irfan Khalid during a bogus charity collection to help pay for the attack
The cell’s leaders also spent ‘a great deal of time and effort’ in recruiting Ali’s older brother Bahader Ali, 29, Mohammed Rizwan, 34, and Mujahid Hussain, 21.
Bahader Ali and Rizwan were unsure whether to join the ‘ammal’ (action) against ‘infidels’ in the UK or fight abroad, the court heard.
They were instructed to practice ‘istikhara’, a prayer intended to help believers make a wise decision, and Bahader Ali and Mujahid Hussain were supplied with ideological material to convince them to join. As a result, Mujahid Hussain became actively involved as a fundraiser and ‘fully aware’ of the other plotters’ intentions, Mr Altman said.
'Blowing yourself up with a rucksack bag is not such a hard thing to do'
What Irfan Naseer allegedly claimed
Rizwan and Bahader Ali, both from Sparkbrook, both admitted engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism earlier this month. Mujahid Hussain, from Yardley, pleaded guilty to entering a funding arrangement for terrorism and possessing information about terror offences.
Bahader Ali eventually decided to go to Pakistan for training rather than take part in the planned attack in the UK, the court heard. ‘He was off to join the Foreign Legion, if I may put it that way, without knowing what demands were going to be made of him,’ Mr Justice Henriques said.
Mujahid Hussain, meanwhile, was fully aware that the group was ‘up to no good’ but did not have knowledge that an attack was being planned in the UK.
Jonathan Whitfield, for Naseer, asked for an extended sentence rather than a life sentence for his client. Mr Whitfield said in mitigation: ‘There are real issues as to whether this would have gone further than it actually did or indeed could have gone further than it did.
‘He has qualities about him which are sloppy and which suggest that this wasn’t going to go unmissed by the authorities. We respectfully submit that the court should guard against ignoring the difference between what he wanted to do and what he did do and could do.’
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow, when Mr Justice Henriques will continue hearing mitigation for the defendants. The judge said he would not sentence the defendants until Friday morning.