Islamists Planned to Wage War on Non-Muslims in Britain, Court is told

Plans to set up a secret Islamist state in a remote part of Scotland, and from there to wage Jihad, or ‘Holy War’ were revealed in the trial of four “British Muslims” yesterday.

In secret conversations recorded by the police, one of the main conspirators, Aabid Khan, of Bradford, explained the plan as follows:  “A group of Muslims can go to a remote place and set up a mini Sharia state and they can rule according to Sharia law, like this and stay there, building them up and their children up, preparing for fitness, and then launching jihad once they strengthen themselves.”

 The trial, taking place in London’s Blackfriars Crown Court, sees Khan, Sultan Muhammad, both from Bradford, West Yorkshire, Ahmed Sulieman, from Woolwich, south-east London, and Hammaad Munshi, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, charged with terrorism-related counts of possessing articles or documents.

The court heard the online exchange was part of a “mass” of allegedly incriminating material found by police during a series of swoops in Bradford and London two years ago.

The exchange between Khan and Muhammad about the secret Islamic state in Scotland began with Muhammad explaining how he and work colleagues had allegedly been chatting about “hijrah” or emigration for Muslims in Britain.

He then continued: “So like maybe a remote part of Scotland - people were like ‘What the hell?’ - at least to a place where there were Muslim communities.”

“In the UK you can isolate with a group discreetly and train, but better in the US as they have weapons there. Over here weapons is problem.”

Khan, described in court as a “Muslim dedicated to violent holy war” also was in possession of information about members of the royal family alongside instructions on how to kill “non-believers.” Khan was found with details about several royals’ lives, including where they lived.

Simon Denison, prosecuting, explained how Khan’s “terrorist encyclopaedia” contained instructions on how to carry out surveillance, prepare explosives, use poisons and advised on preparing for “martyrdom”.

He said one document spoke of  “assassinating named personnel as well as foreign tourists and freeing captured brothers from the enemy”.

It also backed the “spreading of rumours” and “blasting and destroying places of amusement, immorality and sin”, as well as embassies, “vital economic centres” and bridges.

Denison told jurors there was information about London’s Tower Bridge, similar structures in America, and maps of New York’s and Washington’s subway systems. Among the videos recovered were some that featured the Washington Memorial in Virginia and the World Bank in the US capital.

The barrister said another file spoke of the maturity, obedience and “willingness” a jihadist required to martyr himself for his goal of establishing the global rule of Islam.

Forged identity documents, training, weapons purchasing, undercover operations, planning assassinations, and coaching “brothers” to answer questions when travelling to and from Pakistan were also dealt with.

So, too, were “guidelines to beating and killing hostages”, something Islamic scholars had ruled was allowed if they “insisted on withholding information from Muslims”.

Also permissible were suicide bombings.

Counsel told the court other “examples from the mass of information” recovered by police were a Terrorists’ Handbook, the Mujahideen Explosives Handbook, and the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook.

Jurors were told that apart from a recipe for ricin, the latter contained a section which warned the reader doses had been based on experiments with rabbits.

But it then went on to say it was “hoped brothers will carry out their own experiments on kuffir (non-believers)”.

Read the book: Jihad: Islam’s 1,300 Year War on Western Civilisation, available from Excalibur Books, here.