Terrorists exposed in covert operation

ON December 20, 2010, four men from Stoke-on-Trent were arrested, along with five others from Cardiff and London, in a series of co-ordinated dawn raids.

The arrests brought down an al-Qaida-inspired terrorist network, made up of radicalised Muslims who intended to bomb targets in the Potteries and London.

SWOOP: A police officer on duty following the raid on Nazam Hussain's home in Grove Street, Cobridge, one of a series of raids in December 2010. Inset above, from left, Usman Khan, Mohammed Shahjahan, Nazam Hussain and Mohibur Rahman.

MI5 had been following the nine for months, tracking their movements and listening in on their conversations using covert recording techniques.

As the would-be terrorists discussed their twisted ideology and planned their attacks, so the evidence against them grew.

Initially the Stoke-on-Trent four, Usman Khan, Mohammed Shahjahan, Nazam Hussain and Mohibur Rahman, acted independently as a self-contained radical Muslim cell, preaching an extreme version of Islam on the streets of the Potteries.

But in the autumn of 2010, they started communicating with other cells in Wales and London, and on November 7, all three groups came together for the first time at a meeting at Roath Park Lake in Cardiff.

The three cells had common extreme beliefs; specifically, that terror attacks on targets in the UK were permitted under Islam, due to British involvement in attacks on Muslim countries.

They had come to this belief through their reading of online jihadist material, including the 'glossy' terrorist magazine Inspire, produced by Yemeni terror organisation al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsular.

Inspire was specifically targeted at English-speaking Muslims in Western countries and its aim was to radicalise, inspire and instruct would-be jihadis in the ideology and methods of terrorism.

Mohibur Rahman was found in possession of copies of Inspire when the cell was arrested, including one edition which contained an article called "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom".

This instructed the reader in how to build a pipe bomb out of common household items.

At Roath Park Lake the three groups discussed their ideology and their shared desire to carry out attacks.

Following this initial meeting, the men from London and Cardiff, who were all of Bangladeshi origin, began to work together on a terror plot, which would eventually crystallise into plans to detonate a device in the London Stock Exchange.

But the Stoke-on-Trent four, who were all British-born but of Pakistani origin, were more interested in carrying out attacks closer to home, and so their own discussions would focus on planting bombs in pubs and clubs in the Potteries.

Importantly, these would not be suicide attacks; they talked about leaving timed pipe bombs in pub toilets, leaving them alive to fight another day.

While they never got to the stage of building the bombs or selecting targets, they were already considering what would come after this initial campaign.

These long-term plans involved sending some of their number to terror training camps in Kashmir in Pakistan, where they could receive training in how to use firearms, in preparation for further acts of terrorism. It is understood they intended to raise money for this training by using fake passports to secure bank loans.

On December 12, the three groups came together once again, this time at Cwn Carn Country Park in Newport.

It is believed they chose parks in order to avoid surveillance, as by this stage they correctly assumed they were being followed.

Bugs hidden in their cars and other covert recording techniques had allowed MI5 to listen in on many of their conversations.

Seven men attended this second meeting, including Khan, Shahjahan and Hussain, all from Stoke-on-Trent.

They were observed praying and then huddling together and talking for more than an hour.

Two days later, three of the Stoke-on-Trent defendants met at Khan's home in Persia Walk, Tunstall.

They talked about their intention to attack pubs using pipe bombs and also discussed how they would raise funds for their terrorist training.

The next day Khan would talk with an unknown man at his home about attacking the English Defence League.

Meanwhile, the men from Cardiff and London had reached a more advanced stage in their planning, as they had now decided to detonate a bomb in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange.

While it is accepted that their primary aim was to terrorise, cause property damage and economic disruption, there is no doubt such an attack could also have killed or caused serious injury.

But the scheming and plotting would go no further than this, as just a few days later all nine men would be in custody.

Initially all the defendants denied the terrorism-related charges and a five-month trial was due to take place at Woolwich Crown Court.

But after the jury had been sworn in, all nine changed their pleas to guilty.

Sentencing of the defendants was adjourned until next Monday.