‘Swordsman who targeted Palace’ is an Uber driver
Satnav blunder sent suspected jihadi to Windsor Castle pub first
A SUSPECTED jihadi accused of attacking police outside Buckingham Palace ranted that the ‘Queen and her soldiers will all be in hellfire’, a court heard.
Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 26, sparked a major terror alert when he was arrested outside the royal residence.
The Uber driver was found with a samurai sword in the passenger footwell of the blue Toyota Prius he was driving.
He was sprayed with CS gas and wrestled to the ground as the palace was locked down. Three police officers suffered cuts and bruises to their hands.
Incredibly, police discovered Chowdhury may have intended to go to Windsor Castle, but was directed by his satnav to the Mohiussunnath Chowdhury Windsor Castle pub in the town. He then apparently changed his mind and headed to central London, passing the Victoria barracks in Windsor, home of the Coldstream Guards.
Yesterday, Chowdhury appeared before a district judge at Westminster magistrates’ court in London.
The British-born suspect, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, is accused of one charge of preparing terrorist acts, which carries a maximum life sentence.
Mark Carol, prosecuting, said a note to Chowdhury’s sister Sneha, 23, was found by detectives. It read: ‘To my dearest sister, By the time you read this Insha’Allah [God willing] I will be with Allah.
‘Do not cry and be strong. The Shaheed [witness or martyr] will take 70 members of his family with him to paradise. I will take you there Insha’Allah.
‘Tell everyone I love them and that they should struggle against the enemies of Allah.
‘The Queen and her soldiers will all be in the hellfire, they go to war with Muslims around the world and kill them without any mercy.’
Flanked by two plainclothes officers in the reinforced glass dock, Chowdhury nodded as the note was read out. He spoke in soft, well-spoken English to confirm his personal details.
No members of the Royal Family were at Buckingham Palace when Chowdhury was arrested on Friday evening last week. The Queen was at Balmoral.
Footage from the scene showed a car parked near a police van, in the shadow of the Queen Victoria monument on Constitution Hill. Mr Carol said the car stopped 2ft from a marked police vehicle, arousing the officers’ attention.
‘Officers approached the vehicle and the male driver reached for a large sword from inside and shouted “Allahu Akhbar” several times,’ he said. ‘The officer struggled with the individual and sprayed him with CS spray.’ Police seized mobile phones and a laptop from the £230,000 home Chowdhury shares with his parents and sister in a Luton suburb.
They arrested a second man, aged 30, in west London, who was released without charge.
According to one online profile, Chowdhury’s sister is a graduate and a recruitment consultant.
The family’s former neighbours in Uxbridge, west London, said both siblings went to Church of England primary schools.
Chowdhury was remanded in custody and ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on September 21.
Police across Britain remain on high alert for low-tech lone wolf attacks, possibly involving jihadi attackers in vehicles armed with knives.
The Notting Hill Carnival in London over the bank holiday weekend was surrounded by concrete bollards and vehicles were banned from entering for up to eight hours amid unprecedented security.
‘They go to war with Muslims’