Teacher’s army of junior jihadis
» Fanatic who gave lessons in terror with gruesome vids » He drew up target list that included shops and Big Ben
A TERRORIST teacher who drilled his pupils to create an army of “junior jihadis” as part of a plot to attack major UK landmarks is facing years behind bars.
Umar Haque made terrified boys as young as 11 watch beheading videos and act out battles between police and the terrorists he idolised.
After becoming obsessed by last year’s Westminster Bridge attack, Haque drew up a list of 30 targets including Heathrow Airport, Big Ben and the Westfield shopping mall in East London.
One 11-year-old boy said he felt like killing the Queen after being brainwashed by horrific video clips.
Haque, along with two others, was convicted of a string of terror offences by an Old Bailey jury yesterday.
He was hauled out of the dock by security guards as he began to rant following the guilty verdicts.
In conversations recorded by the security services, Haque, 25, was heard to say: “So what I want to do personally is launch different attacks in all the different areas, one in Westminster, one in Stratford, one in Forest Gate, one ... in so many different areas, yeah.”
He had access to 250 children while working at a mosque and two schools in East London – and tried to radicalise 110 by showing extremist videos, police said.
Haque left them “paralysed by fear” after telling them they would meet a similar fate if they told anyone.
In videotaped evidence, one class member from Ripple Road Mosque in Barking, East London, said: “He said that when we grow up, we have to fight with the Islamic State. He was trying to make the Islamic State a good thing.
“I was thinking we should fight against them if they are bombing us and destroying Britain.”
The boy added that the videos shown to pupils featured “real fighting and blood, babies getting killed, babies in hospital”.
Haque only came on the police radar when he was stopped at Heathrow trying to board a plane to Turkey in April 2016.
He taught at schools, mosques and academies despite being unqualified.
Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “He abused his position at those venues. And he tried – and he did, we believe – radicalise vulnerable children aged 11 to 14.
“His plan was to create an army of children to assist with terrorist attacks throughout London. His plans, though ambitious, were aspirational. They were long-term attack plans. He instructed the children not to say anything. He had almost paralysed them with fear.”
Haque’s co-defendant Abuthaher Mamun, 19 was recorded by MI5 saying: “We’re here to cause terror, my brother.”
He added: “We are a death squad sent by Allah and his messengers to avenge my Arab brothers’ blood.”
Haque, of Forest Gate, East London, was convicted of two counts of preparing for terrorist acts, having earlier admitted dissemination of terrorist publications, and four counts of collecting information likely to be useful to a terrorist.
Mamun, of Barking, was convicted of preparation of terrorist acts, while a third man, Muhammad Abid, 27, of Manor Park, East London, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about Haque’s terror planning. They will all be sentenced later this month.
Nadeem Patel, 26, who had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a handgun, was acquitted of plotting with Haque.
Several investigations are now running to find out how the unqualified fanatic was able to work with children.
Parents at the £3,000-a-year Lantern of Knowledge Muslim school, in Leyton, were said to be “horrified” to discover he had taught their youngsters. The Ripple Road mosque is now under investigation by The Charity Commission.
He said when we grow up, we had to fight. He tried to make Islamic State a good thing ONE OF HAQUE’S PUPILS RIPPLE ROAD MOSQUE, BARKING