LEGACY OF TERROR
Anjem Choudary is at the centre of an international network of extremist groups. His Al-Muhajiroun associates are linked to at least 15 major terrorist plots and 500 of his supporters have gone to fight in Syria. Here, Rebecca Camber reveals how far and w
DECEMBER 22, 2001 SHOE BOMB PLOT
The British shoe bomber Richard Reid, 28, was seen at several Al-Muhajiroun meetings in Ilford in the months before his failed attempt to bomb American Airlines Flight 63 over Miami using a bomb concealed in his shoe.
JANUARY 14 , 2003 RICIN PLOT
Kamel Bourgass, who killed Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a bungled police raid in Manchester and plotted to unleash ricin and other poisons, has been linked to Al-Muhajiroun.
2004 DIRTY BOMB PLOT
Two of the seven members of a British Al Qaeda ‘sleeper cell’ who plotted to detonate dirty radiation bombs in London have been linked to Al-Muhajiroun.
2004 FERTILISER BOMB PLOT
Police foiled a plot by five terrorists to blow up Bluewater shopping centre, a night club and the gas network with a huge bomb made of 1,300lb of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Four of the convicted terrorists had strong links with
Al-Muhajiroun.
JULY 7, 2005 THE 7/7 LINK
Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the group behind the 7/7 London bombings, which killed 52 people, was linked to Al-Muhajiroun. The other bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, Germaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain were also members of the group. Khan used Al-Muhajiroun safe houses.
2006 LIQUID BOMB PLOT
Abdulla Ahmed Ali, the ringleader of a plot by three British-born Islamic fanatics to use liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks to blow at least seven flights out of the sky, had been an Al-Muhajiroun member since university.
2010 THE LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE BOMB
A gang of nine Muslim extremists inspired by Choudary planned to plant a bomb in the London Stock Exchange and were seen scouting other targets including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye for a ‘Mumbai-style’ atrocity in 2010.
APRIL 2012 TOY CAR BOMB PLOT
A gang of four Al-Muhajiroun activists were jailed for a total of 44 years in 2013 for plotting to blow up a Territorial Army base with a bomb strapped to a remote controlled toy car they planned to send beneath the gate. Zahid Iqbal, Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, Syed Farhan Hussain, and Umar Arshad also discussed attacking MI5, the US Air Force and a shopping centre.
JULY 2012 ROYAL WOOTTON BASSETT BOMB PLOT
Richard Dart (right), a former BBC security guard converted to Islam by Choudary, plotted to blow up soldiers and families in Royal Wootton Bassett, where the bodies of many soldiers killed in Afghanistan have been repatriated.
DECEMBER 2013 PIPE BOMB
In May last year Kazi Islam was locked up for eight years for attempting to groom his mentally disabled friend into carrying out a Lee Rigby copycat killing. Islam, who attended Al-Muhajiroun lectures and seminars, preyed on Asperger’s sufferer Harry Thomas, demanding he buy ingredients for a pipe bomb.
AUGUST 2014 THE LEE RIGBY COPYCAT
Brustholm Ziamani was radicalised in weeks by Al-Muhajiroun before he was arrested on his way to behead a soldier in a Lee Rigby-style terror attack. He was jailed for 19 years after being stopped by chance in East London armed with a hammer and a 12in knife.
NOVEMBER 2014 THE POPPY SELLER BEHEADING PLOT
Nadir Syed was jailed for life in June for plotting to behead a charity poppy-seller or police community support officer around Remembrance Sunday. Syed, who was helping run the media operation for Choudary’s group, was arrested hours after walking into a shop in West London to buy an 11in chef’s knife that police feared he was about to use to behead a member of the public.
APRIL 2015 AUSTRALIA SUICIDE PLOT
A boy of 14 who idolised Choudary was jailed for life after orchestrating a plot to kill police officers in Melbourne from his bedroom in Lancashire. The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, used Twitter to get in touch with Sevdet Besim, 18, an Australian planning a suicide attack on soldiers and police officers at a Remembrance Day parade.
JULY 2015 US TROOPS PLOT
Delivery driver Junead Ahmed Khan was jailed for life in May for a plot to murder US troops posted to British military bases. Khan, whose older brother was a key member of Choudary’s circle, wanted to cause a car crash and coax soldiers from their vehicles before hacking them to death with a hunting knife.