REVEALED How Jihadi hunted by MI5 tried to recruit undercover MoS reporter
A NOTORIOUS British jihadi fighting with Islamic State terrorists in Syria tried to recruit an undercover Mail on Sunday reporter posing as an impressionable young Muslim.
Fanatic Omar Hussain – known as the Supermarket Jihadi – issued detailed instructions on how to travel to Syria to commit acts of terror but avoid detection by police and security services.
In a series of chilling voice and text messages Hussain, 27, cynically encouraged the would-be recruit, claiming the thrill of battle would make him a better Muslim.
Believing our investigator had accepted the call to arms, Hussain – who slipped out of Britain to fight for barbaric IS despite being on a police watch list – plotted to smuggle the reporter into Syria. Hussain told him to:
Destroy his mobile phone and SIM card to put British police and MI5 off his scent;
Travel to Turkey via at least one other European country to bypass strict anti-terrorist controls;
Promised to arrange a secret rendezvous with IS terrorists in Istanbul who would smooth his path to Syria.
Instructed him to bring £500 in cash and some clothes, saying IS would take care of everything else.
Former security guard Hussain’s callous attempt to recruit a wouldbe jihadi comes as MPs warned that IS terrorists were preying on young Muslims on social media and luring them to Syria.
Latest official estimates are that more than 600 British Muslims have gone to Syria to join terror groups, although experts say it could be as high as 2,000.
Hussain left Britain in December 2013, after flying to Turkey via Gatwick, despite being a known extremist. Once in Syria, he began making threats against the UK on the internet using the nom de guerre Awlaki.
In August last year, The Mail on Sunday published Hussain’s real identity, and revealed how he lived in Buckinghamshire, with his family, and worked as security guard in a Morrisons store.
In January, a Mail on Sunday reporter, posing as a young Muslim from East London, contacted Hussain on his Facebook page, which he ran under the name of Ahlus Sunnah II. When the reporter – who claimed to be bored with his job in the UK – said he wanted to join the ‘caliphate’ that IS has declared in Syria, Hussain encouraged him.
The terrorist then gave the reporter a Turkish mobile number and asked him to contact him using messaging service WhatsApp. Within days of this exchange, Facebook closed Hussain’s account as well as that of the reporter.
The MoS man then contacted Hussain via WhatsApp, and told him that he would like to join IS. Hussain encouraged him, by telling the reporter his ‘iman’, or religious faith, would rise higher.
He said: ‘Bro, just imagine you go to the battlefield, you see bullets flying over your head, you see a brother on your right get shot, another on your left, like yani [I mean] get blown up, yani, it’s the place to be, yani, if you want your iman to go high, you know.’
As days went by, Hussain encouraged the reporter to go to Istanbul, but told him to first go through France and Italy, to avoid UK anti- terrorist police. He then told the would-be recruit to destroy his SIM and mobile ‘just in case the authorities are on to you. In the UK, the kuffar [infidel] authorities are tracking my number.’
After the reporter told Hussain he was ready to make the journey to Syria, the IS fighter texted: ‘Just come to Istanbul, that will be fine. You don’t need to bring anything, just bring enough cash, about $600 $700, that will be jayed [good].’
He added: ‘As for what’s gonna happen once you are in Istanbul, just message me and I’ll hook you up with a few brothers. They’ve been doing it for some time. They are gonna pick you up from a destination and take you to the border between Shaam [Syria] and Turkey inshallah [God willing].’
The investigator then flew to Istanbul, and contacted Hussain from a hotel in the city. The IS jihadi told him to buy a new Turkish SIM and smartphone and download WhatsApp and encrypted messaging software Surespot. As the IS fighter organised his agents to meet the reporter to take him to the Syrian border, the investigator did not return WhatsApp messages, or contact him, but flew back to the UK. Once in London, the investigator contacted Hussain, asking him why the jihadi did not return his messages. Hussain replied: ‘I was waiting for ur msg, and Allah is a witness to that.’
The reporter asked if he should try again to go to Syria. Hussain replied: ‘Akhi [my brother] come. If u believe it’s fard [Islamically obligatory] upon you then come.’
Last night Hussain could not be contacted. His family declined to comment.
‘Just come to Istanbul,
that will be fine’ ‘I’ll hook you up with
a few brothers’