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Two men have been convicted of planning an ISIS-inspired scheme attack At a large gathering of Jews in the Manchester area.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amr Hussein, 52, had “inner dislike” Jewish People wanted to cause further “untold harm” court heard.
But the plot was aborted Because he unknowingly revealed his plan to an undercover operative (UCO).
Saadaoui, the main instigator, aimed to smuggle four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns and 900 rounds. ammunition In what police chiefs said could be Britain’s deadliest terrorist incident.
A few months ago, the father of two, originally from Tunisia, paid a deposit for the weapons and admitted that he had arranged for their import with a like-minded extremist – but there is no mention of who the UCO actually was. court As Farooq.
Saadaoui told Farouk that he could obtain a firearm freely through Sweden and indicated that he wanted to bring guns from Eastern Europe. Separately, he purchased an air weapon and visited a shooting range.
Counter-terrorism police intervened on “strike day” on 8 May last year, involving more than 200 officers, after Saadaoui was arrested in a hotel car park in Bolton when he went to collect some firearms, which had been defused.
He hero-worshipped ISIS terrorist, Preston Crown Court heard Abdelhamid Abaaoud, Who masterminded the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more in gun attacks across the city.
No specific target site or date was identified, but prosecutors said the defendants planned to carry out a gun attack on an anti-Semitic march and then head to north Manchester to kill more Jews.
Saadaoui came to the attention of authorities when he used 10 Facebook accounts, none of which were in his name, to spread Islamic extremist views as Farouq was deployed to gain his trust online and later in person.
He used one of his fake accounts to join the Facebook group of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, which contained details of a “March Against Antisemitism” held in the city center on 21 January last year, which was attended by thousands of people.
A few days later he told Farouk: “Here in Manchester, we have the largest Jewish community.
“God wishes that we would degrade and humiliate them (in the worst possible way), and hit them where it would hurt.”
Saadaoui recruited fellow IS supporter Hussein, a Kuwaiti national who worked and lived at a furniture shop in Bolton, Greater Manchester, to assist him in his plans.
The pair travel to Dover, Kent in March 2024 to investigate how to smuggle a weapon through the port without detection.
On his return, Saadaoui traveled to Prestwich and Higher Broughton in North Manchester, where he conducted similar surveillance on Jewish nurseries, schools, synagogues and shops.
A safe house in Bolton was also secured for the storage of weapons, as the two men returned to Dover two months later, where they believed they were looking at firearms coming into the country.
Giving evidence, Saadaoui denied that his ideology was extremist and claimed that he was “playing” with Farouk. He said that their intention was to foil the plans before they came to fruition as their aim was to cut the weapons with an angle grinder and then alert the authorities.
Hussain told detectives that he was not part of any terrorist attack planning and said that UCO’s evidence was “hypothetical”.
He also told them: “Your government, your Prime Minister, has sent weapons to Israel to kill our children.
,terror It is our religion. The Quran says terrorism is normal. We are proud, we say proud of terrorism.”
His barrister told jurors that Hussein had “very strong opinions” about the conflict in Gaza, but that this did not make him a terrorist.
Abram, Saadaoui of Wigan and Hussein, of no fixed address, were convicted of preparing terrorist acts between December 2023 and May 2024.
Saadoui’s brother Bilel, 36, of Hindley, Wigan, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about the scheme.
All three defendants will be sentenced on February 13.
Following the verdict, Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “What Walid Saadaoui was trying to achieve was a terrorist attack on the Jewish community which, given the weapons and ammunition involved, could potentially have been the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history.
“Some of the things he said made it clear that he did not consider a less sophisticated attack with less lethal weapons to be good enough because he saw that it was his duty to kill as many Jewish people as possible. This was not going to be achieved by using a knife, or potentially a vehicle, as a weapon.
“There was very real risk and danger to Farouk, who undoubtedly saved lives. I cannot overemphasise his courage, bravery and professionalism in the role he played.
“It was inherent in our ability to continue to develop the investigation and allow Walid to continue with his plans until, working with the Crown Prosecution Service, we were satisfied that we had sufficient evidence to authorize the most significant charges.”
Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS’ Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division, said: “The investigation and prosecution deployed a highly trained witness who ensured that their plot Was not successful and secured valuable evidence directly from the mouth of the terrorists.
“He exposed life, his long-held attitudes and beliefs as well as his intention to destroy them Isis credit.”