Police warn of female Isil terror cells as teenager is convicted of museum plot
Sixth-former, her mother and sister guilty of planning first all-girl terrorist attack in Britain
FEMALE jihadists pose a growing threat, police have warned, after the first all-girl Isil terror cell was convicted of planning an attack in Britain.
Safaa Boular was 16 when she was encouraged by Naweed Hussain, her Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fiancé from Coventry, to become a martyr and mount an attack at the British Museum.
Using coded language, which had an Alice in Wonderland tea party theme, Boular discussed the plans with her sister Rizlaine, 22, and mother Mina Dich, 43. Yesterday Safaa was found guilty of attempting to travel to Syria and planning a terror attack in the UK, making her the youngest Isil sympathiser yet convicted of such crimes in Britain. Dich and Rizlaine had earlier pleaded guilty to a similar charge.
Police said they feared this might not be the last terror plot to be masterminded by women in this country. Dean Haydon, the Metropolitan Police’s senior national co-ordinator for counter terrorism, said: “It’s difficult to say whether there will be others. But looking at what’s happened in other countries, there probably will be.”
Safaa was first stopped by police on Aug 16 2016, on return from a holiday in Morocco. She admitted she wanted to go to Syria to marry an Isil fighter. Her passport was seized, but she was allowed to return to her home in Vauxhall, south London since there was no evidence she planned to commit an offence.
Her mobile phone, which she was using to contact her “husband” in Syria, was seized. She had downloaded videos of women wearing suicide belts.
Safaa began plotting to carry out a terrorist attack on the British Museum using the code words “tokarev” and “pineapple” for guns and grenades.
She took delivery of a phone hidden inside a heart-shaped chocolate box. Using encrypted messages, she contacted 32-year-old Hussain from her sixth-form lounge or from her bedroom. After Hussain was killed in a US drone strike Safaa discussed her plan with two undercover secret service officers posing online as extremists.
Safaa was finally arrested on April 12 last year. Following her arrest Dich and Rizlaine carried out reconnaissance visits around landmarks in Westminster and bought knives and a rucksack.
On April 27 last year, fearing the attack was imminent, armed police moved in and, during the raid in Willesden Green, north-west London, Rizlaine was shot and injured.
The Old Bailey jury was told police found “a vast array of extremist material” and Dich’s phone included photos of women with AK47S, a child in a suicide belt, and videos of beheadings.
Sentencing was deferred for around six weeks, pending reports.