Man was heading to fight for Daesh in Syria
Police warn of grooming danger from extremists
THE CASE of a West Yorkshire man who bought plane tickets to Syria so he could fight for Daesh shows how extremists can groom British citizens to carry out terrorist atrocities, a senior police officer has claimed.
Ghulam Hussain, 30, is set to be sent to prison next month after admitting two terrorism offences when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.
According to the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, whose investigation led to his arrest in November, Hussain made arrangements to travel to Syria – including purchasing airline tickets – and had obtained credit cards fraudulently.
He is said to have disclosed to an undercover officer that his intention was to join Daesh, also known as IS or ISIS, to fight in Syria and the money from the credit cards would fund this activity.
Hussain, of Track Road, Batley, was also charged with providing money and advice to an undercover officer, with the intention of assisting another to commit an act of terrorism.
He will be sentenced on May 12.
Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain, head of North East CTU, said: “This has been a detailed and thorough investigation, which has led to the defendant pleading guilty in light of the weight of evidence against him.
“This case highlights the way extremists reach out to each other and over a relatively short period of time can encourage others to commit offences; on this occasion to encourage a British citizen to travel to Syria to fight, train and live.”
The case is the latest example of people from West Yorkshire apparently travelling to Syria to fight for Daesh, with hundreds across the country said to have done so.
In June 2015, sisters Khadija, Sugra and Zohra Dawood, from Bradford, and their nine children went missing and were thought to be in Syria after first travelling to Saudi Arabia.
Later that year police said Imran Ameen, his wife Farzana and their five children, aged between five and 15, were believed to have travelled to Turkey on one-way tickets before they headed to Syria.
Also in 2015, A West Yorkshire teenager is believed to have become Britain’s youngest ever suicide bomber after reportedly blowing himself up in Iraq.
Talha Asmal, 17, was one of four suicide bombers who attacked forces near an oil refinery south of Baiji. He travelled to Syria with fellow Dewsbury teenager Hassan Munshi.
Detective Superintendent Nik Adams, regional coordinator for Prevent in the North East region, said Syria travel cases included those “who have become radicalised into joining Daesh to fight on the front line, who will go on to commit heinous attacks”.
And he said those who go out to the war-torn Middle Eastern state often find it difficult to return. He told The Yorkshire Post in December they had seen families travelling out to live what they see as a more pure Islamic life in what they are told is “a wonderful, pure Islamic state”.
This case highlights the way extremists reach out to each other. Detective Chief Superintendent Clive Wain.