Cyber jihadi ‘part of new and dangerous breed of terrorist’
ACYBER jihadi who used a James Bond-style cufflink to conceal his support for Islamic State (IS) is part of a “new and dangerous breed of terrorist”, a court heard yesterday.
Samata Ullah, 34, from Cardiff, appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced after he admitted five terror offences, including membership of IS, training and preparation of terrorist acts.
At the time of his arrest in the Welsh capital on September 22 last year, he had a USB cufflink with a Linux operating system loaded onto it to conceal a hoard of extremist data.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC said: “The prosecution says this defendant represents a new and dangerous breed of terrorist, a cyber terrorist.
“He deployed his not inconsiderable self-taught computer skills to further the cause of terrorism and in particular Islamic State, which we say he not merely professed to belong to but in fact belonged in terms of membership and ideological affiliation, all (of which) he did from the relative safety of his bedroom in Cardiff, where he lived alone.
“From the bedroom of that address, he busied himself assisting others in IS and others who shared their mindset in keeping their actions secret.”
British counter-terrorism police had tracked him down after being passed intelligence by the FBI who had been handed the information from authorities in Kenya, who had arrested another man.
Ullah, of Rennie Street, Riverside, who has been diagnosed with autism, was in regular contact with the man via encrypted Telegram chats in which he vowed to use his special skills to help in the IS campaign.
He told him he would take “whatever advice and knowledge I have and contribute it to the Caliphate”, the court heard.
Officers found he was an active member of IS and had helped other likeminded extremists by teaching them how to keep their activities secret.
From December 2015, he had provided instructional videos on how to secure sensitive data and remain anonymous online with the use of the Tor programme and PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption.
In the videos, his voice was modified to avoid detection and he wore woolly gloves to disguise his skin tone, Mr Altman said. He developed a website on computer hacking and kept numerous extremist documents and videos on electronic devices at his Cardiff home, including sets of USB cufflinks.
The court was told that one of the cufflinks contained 15 editions of the IS propaganda magazine Dabiq while another had the Linux operating system.
Mr Altman said: “It is important to consider the possession of this cufflink in the context of the videos this defendant was creating and uploading, setting out the importance of security and warning against holding information on computers and recommending using USB sticks away from the prying eyes of authorities.”
Ullah also used various Twitter accounts in different names to send messages about IS, the court heard.
He has admitted researching ZeroNet and developing a version of a blog site using the decentralised internet-like peer-to-peer network.
He also pleaded guilty to having a book entitled Guided Missiles Fundamentals AFM 52-31 and an electronic PDF version of Advances In Missile Guidance, Control And Estimation for terrorist purposes.
However, he denied a charge of directing terrorism between December 2015 and September last year contrary to section 56 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which will lie on court file.
The court heard how Ullah, who is of Bangladeshi heritage, lived alone just around the corner from his mother and sister in Cardiff.
In August last year, he had got a job in the Legal and General pensions department in Cardiff but left before his training was complete on September 12 after being warned about his performance.
On his arrest, the defendant, who had no previous convictions, asked the reason for his detention and once told, responded: “I’m not involved in anything like that.”
Mr Altman told the court that the Crown disputed the suggestion in a report that his activities were “part of a fantasy life” and the defence claim that Ullah only professed membership of IS.
On being charged, Ullah said: “I’m really sorry.
“I wish I could turn the clock back. Things just spiralled out of control I don’t know how.”
Mitigating, Ben Emmerson QC told the court Ullah was living in a “fantasy” world.
He was one of a group of people who called themselves “Isis fan boys”, akin to armchair revolutionaries, he said.
The lawyer said: “In that world Mr Ullah had created an avatar, a false online persona, from which this socially isolated and challenged man was able to derive a sense of importance that took him outside his lonely impoverished life he was leading.”
The sentencing hearing adjourned until Tuesday. was