Barber shop owner used Covid relief grant to fund Islamic State terrorism, court told

A FORMER barber allegedly sent £25,000 to fund Islamic State fighters in Syria after receiving a coronavirus relief grant from his local council, a court has heard.

Tarek Namouz sent the funds via a money transfer bureau between November 2020 and May 2021 to organise terrorist attacks against “non-believers” in Syria, prosecutors said.

Kingston Crown Court yesterday heard that the 43-year-old, of west London, had received Covid grant relief from Hammersmith and Fulham council during the pandemic.

All identifiable transfers, totalling about £11,280, were sent to Yahya

Ahmed Alia in Syria. Mr Namouz does not dispute making the transfers, but denies knowing the money would be used for terrorism, it is claimed.

Jurors heard that Mr Namouz told a visitor while in prison that he had sent £25,000 to Syria, but no records of the extra sums have been recovered.

John Mcguinness KC, prosecuting, said analysis of one of Mr Namouz’s phones showed he was in “regular Whatsapp communication” with Mr Alia and messages indicated that both men were “committed to the Islamic extremist culture”, “fervently supported the culture of IS” and were “committed to the cause of terrorism”.

Jurors heard that Mr Namouz had been deleting his messages regularly so police were only able to recover texts sent between May 15 2021 and his arrest 10 days later. Files on Mr Namouz’s phone contained IS propaganda, instructions for preparing explosives and combat tactics, the court was told.

During one police interview, Mr Namouz told officers he had sent the money to “help … the poor and needy in Syria”, the court heard. In another, he said he wanted to retire in Syria and sent the money to buy land.

Mr Namouz – who lived above his shop, Boss Crew Barbers, in Hammersmith – denies eight counts of entering into a funding arrangement between November 2020 and May 2021, and two counts of possessing terrorist information. The trial continues.