Friday, March 15, 2013

White Muslim convert, former PCSO and conspirator they trained with in Pakistan admit plotting terror attack on Wootton Bassett

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White Muslim convert, former PCSO and conspirator they trained with in Pakistan admit plotting terror attack on Wootton Bassett

  • Richard Dart, Imran Mahmood, and Jahangir Alom, plead guilty at Old Bailey
  • Admit preparing for terrorism or assisting another in terrorism, between July 2010 and July 2012
  • Trio travelled to Pakistan for terror training and helped others do the same
  • Conversations reveal targets were Wootton Bassett and secret services

By Sam Adams and Martin Robinson

PUBLISHED:07:16 EST, 15 March 2013| UPDATED:14:35 EST, 15 March 2013

A former BBC security guard today admitted playing a part in a two-year terror plot, which included a possible attack on Wootton Bassett, the small town in Wiltshire used for military funerals.

White Muslim convert Richard Dart, 29, also planned to wipe out members of the security services including 'MI5 or MI6 heads' after receiving training at Pakistani terror camps.

Dart, who calls himself Salahuddin Al Britani, and co-conspirators Imran Mahmood, 21, and Jahangir Alom, 26, have all pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism during a brief hearing at the Old Bailey.

Plot: Richard Dart has admitted to involvement with terrorism offences

Plot: Richard Dart has admitted to involvement with terrorism offences along with Imran Mahmood, 21, and Jahangir Alom, 26

Suspicion: British soldiers and Marines killed in Afghanistan pass along the High Street in Wootton Bassett, where the terror group was believed to be targeting

Suspicion: British soldiers and Marines killed in Afghanistan pass along the High Street in Wootton Bassett, where the terror group was believed to be targeting

Jahangir Alom

 Jahangir Alom Imran Mahmood

Co-conspirators: Former PCSO Jahangir Alom (left) and Imran Mahmood (right) also pleaded guilty at the Old bailey today

The charges said they travelled to Pakistan for terror training, travelled abroad to commit acts of terrorism and provided information about travel to Pakistan, terrorism training and operational security while there.

Detectives had recovered computer conversations between Dart and Mahmood identifying one target as Wootton Bassett, whose streets are always lined with mourners when Britain's war-dead are flown back into the UK.

One conversation between the pair went as follows: 'Yes, yes Wootton Bassett, if not that then all combatants if it comes down to it, it is that or even to just deal with a few MI5, MI6 heads.'

Richard Dart

Richard Dart

Extreme: Dart has made several appearances on YouTube and on BBC TV discussing his faith and his views, as well as attending several anti-British protests in London (right)

Dart, the son of teachers from Dorset, had appeared in a BBC Three documentary made by his stepbrother after he converted to Islam by radical cleric Anjem Choudary.

Admission: Richard Dart had travelled to Pakistan for terror training and was implicated after police seized a computer

Admission: Richard Dart had travelled to Pakistan for terror training and was implicated after police seized a computer

In the film, My Brother The Islamist, Dart was said to have been turned into an extremist in months after joining the Muslims Against Crusades group.

He also criticised Britain on TV while claiming benefits to live rent-free.

Dart also appeared in an internet video uploaded by a Muslim group vowing to disrupt the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Alom spent two years working for the Metropolitan Police as a police community support officer, dubbed 'Blunkett Bobbies' because they were introduced when David Blunkett was Home Secretary.

All three bearded men appeared by videolink from Woodhill Prison in Buckinghamshire for a plea and case management hearing.

They spoke only to confirm their names and to enter a guilty plea to the single charge on the indictment.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw QC said there was still a dispute between the Crown and some of the defendants about the 'degree of risk to members of the public and whether it was significant.'

The judge, Mr Justice Simon, said he would sentence them on a date to be set in late April following the preparation of reports by the Probation Service.

Alom's wife Ruksana Begum, 22, was jailed for 12 months in December last year after being caught with a guide on how to blow up bombs by remote control.

The trainee accountant downloaded the illegal Al Qaeda magazines after two of her brothers were jailed for plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange and other famous landmarks in the capital.

Stand: Dart pictured before his arrest during a Muslims against Crusades protest against the Royal Wedding outside the House Of Commons

Stand: Dart pictured before his arrest during a Muslims against Crusades protest against the Royal Wedding outside the House Of Commons

Home: Dart had lived in a luxury flat here in Mile End, East London, paid for by benefits

Home: Dart had lived in a luxury flat here in Mile End, East London, paid for by benefits

Begum's brothers, Gurukanth Desai and Abdul Miah, were jailed for 12 years and 16 years and 10 months respectively in February last year after pleading guilty to plotting terrorist attacks.

Begum, of Provost Estate, Islington, north London, admitted a single count of possession of a document likely to be of use to a terrorist contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000, namely copies of Inspire 8 and Inspire 9 Winter 2012 edition.

Dart, of Ealing, west London, Mahmood, of Northolt, west London and Alom, of Stratford, east London, were all remanded in custody.

 

 

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