Accused admit to plotting Muslim soldier’s murder: Conspiracy to terrorise UK troops
By Our Special Correspondent
LONDON, Jan 29: Four Muslims, at least two of them of Pakistani origin, pleaded guilty on Tuesday of plotting to kidnap a Muslim member of the Armed Forces from Birmingham City Centre and behead him.
The group, headed by Parviz Khan, 38, an unemployed charity worker, from Alum Rock, Birmingham, was arrested in February last year during a series of counter-terrorism raids.
Khan was enraged by the idea that there are Muslim soldiers in the British Army, the court was told.
The court heard that Khan decided to act on his hatred by kidnapping such a soldier with the help of drug dealers operating in Birmingham. The victim was to be seized in a part of the city known for its nightlife and bundled into a car.
The court further learnt that the victim was to be taken to a lockup garage and there he would be murdered by having his head cut off like a pig. This atrocity would be filmed . . . and the film released to cause panic and fear within the British Armed Forces and the wider public.
According to the Guardian on Tuesday, Prosecutor Nigel Rumfitt QC said Khan, of Alum Rock, Birmingham, and three other men, were not standing trial because they had pleaded guilty to charges a fortnight ago.
Basiru Gassama, 30, admitted knowing about the kidnapping plot and not informing the authorities.
Mohammed Irfan, 31, and Hamid Elasmar, 44, pleaded guilty to helping Khan supply equipment to terrorists operating on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Reporting of the guilty pleas had been restricted until the start of the trial on Tuesday of two other men charged alongside the four.
Amjad Mahmood, 32, denies knowing about Khan’s soldier plot between April 2006 and February 2007 and failing to disclose the information.
Zahoor Iqbal, 30, denies possessing a document or record likely to be useful to a terrorist, namely a computer resource called Encyclopaedia Jihad.
Both men have also pleaded not guilty to engaging in conduct with the intention of assisting in the commission of acts of terrorism between April 2006 and Feb 2007.
The court heard that Khan, whose home was bugged by security services, had been active in gathering military equipment such as night-vision goggles.
Rumfitt said: “Khan’s activities came to the attention of the security services. His home was bugged and conversations between him and his visitors were recorded and you will hear transcripts of the relevant recordings.
“The prosecution says that Parviz Khan is a fanatic. He is a man who has the most violent and extreme views. He was enraged by the idea that there were Muslim soldiers in the British Army, some of them Muslims from the Gambia in West Africa.”
The jury was told that Khan had wanted Gassama to help him identify a suitable soldier to kidnap. But the Gambian national never came up with details of a target, the prosecution said.
The plot was thwarted by police and the MI5 security service in January last year. The men were arrested after a series of high-profile raids in Birmingham by the West Midlands police counter-terrorism unit.
The trial of Mahmood and Iqbal is expected to last for several months.
