Fanatic who was the ‘driving force’ behind an Islamic State plot jailed
AN ISLAMIC State fanatic who told a terror cell in Germany how they could commit mass murder has been jailed for life with a minimum term of nine years.
The attack never went ahead, but on two separate occasions members of the cell used Fatah Abdullah’s advice to successfully test explosives.
Iranian-born Abdullah, 35, who lived in Newcastle, learned how to make a bomb to teach his continental conspirators Omar Babek and Ahmed Hussein.
He bought more than 8,000 matches, explosive precursors, fireworks, fuses and a remote control detonator, the Old Bailey heard.
It is believed he may even have tested out some ingredients to make gunpowder from his flat, the court heard.
In an encrypted message, he told the plotters in Germany: “You select your target for the car,
after you have set off the explosions, you target crowd or group of people with your car you drive through them, and find a meat cleaver which is used by butchers. Once you have ran them over with the car, get out of the car, start attacking them with it.
“The aim is that you kill them and make them feel terrified and show them that (Islamic State), is here and Islam is here, the most important thing is that you carry out the jihad.”
Abdullah, who was granted asylum in the UK, was arrested a month before Hussein and Babek were caught last January.
In March, Abdullah pleaded guilty to inciting terrorism overseas and engaging in conduct in preparation to assist others to commit terrorist acts.
Mr Justice Sweeney yesterday sentenced him to concurrent life sentences with a minimum term of nine years. The judge said Abdullah was a dangerous offender and his “ultimate aim” was to “cause mass murder”.
Jenny Hopkins, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Even though he was hundreds of miles away and never met the would-be attackers, Fatah Abdullah was the driving force behind the plot.”