Four al Qaeda-inspired terrorists who plotted to blow up a TA base in Luton with a bomb strapped to a remote controlled car were jailed for 44-and-a-half years today (April 18).
The Luton-based terror cell also discussed attacking MI5, the US Air Force, the English Defence League and The Mall in Luton.
Ringleader Zahid Iqbal, 31, of Bishopscote Road, helped organise for Jihadists to travel to Pakistan for extremism training through an al-Qaeda contact he had there.
Fellow plotter Mohammed Sharfaraz Ahmed, 25, of Maidenhall Road, made several trips to Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons to prepare themselves for conditions in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But security services bugged their cars, and overheard married father-of-two Iqbal suggesting driving a toy car carrying explosives under the gates of the TA base in Marsh Road.
In one conversation Iqbal said to Ahmed: “At the bottom of the gate, there’s quite a big gap. If you had a little toy car, it drives underneath one of their vehicles or something.”
Iqbal originally planned to send extremist followers abroad, but turned his attention to UK targets after losing contact with his terrorist handler in Pakistan.
The pair recruited and radicalised Ahmed’s friend Umar Arshad, 24, of Crawley Road, and another Luton-based Muslim, Syed Hussain, 22, of Cornel Close.
Ahmed led military-style training trips to the countryside, where he and fellow extremists were spotted jogging in formation while using logs as mock weapons.
He suggested bungee jumping, sky diving, horse riding, and paragliding as ‘good Jihad training’ in a bid to overcome his fear of heights, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
The homes of all four terrorists were raided just days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and they admitted a joint charge of preparing for terrorism.
Mr Justice Wilkie QC jailed both Iqbal and Ahmed for 16 years and three months each.
Arshad was sentenced to six years and nine months, and Hussain was jailed for five years and three months.
He said Iqbal and Ahmed should be serve at least 11 years and three months of their prison sentence before being considered for release because they continue to pose a significant danger to the public.
He said: “There is a persistent commitment to terrorist activities in a number of different ways over a significant period of time.
“There was a willingness to take particular steps to obtain terrorist training abroad, which marks them as particularly dangerous.”
Prosecutor Max Hill said Iqbal had an al Qaeda contact in Pakistan dubbed ‘Modern Sleeve’ by security services
Covert recordings showed the ‘radicalisation of the defendants and their commitment to engage in violent Jihad, in the sense of violent terrorist attacks against the military and civilian population of Western states such as the United Kingdom.’
Iqbal hatched the plan to blow up the TA base four days after downloading the latest editions of Inspire, an al Qaeda fanzine full of extremist rants and deadly instruction manuals.
One article entitled ‘Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom’ showed how to cook up explosives from ordinary household objects.
Iqbal made dozens of calls to numbers in Pakistan in early 2011, while collecting money to pass to terrorists and trying to recruit followers who would go abroad and fight a holy war.
Ahmed spent a week in Pakistan in March 2011 at a terrorist training camp, but had to come home early because his Arabic was not good enough, the court heard.
He recruited his long-time pal Arshad, and helped radicalise Hussain by encouraging him to go to Pakistan to be trained.
As security services closed in on the plotters, Ahmed was spotted taking several trips to Snowdonia which he considered the most like the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
When counter terrorism police raided their homes, in September 2011 and again in April 2012, they seized a vast stash of extremist literature, as well as 14 laptops, other electronic storage devices, and more than 150 mobile phones.
Among the downloaded magazines were copies of Inspire, books called 39 Ways to Support Jihad, 21 Techniques of Silent Killing, and The Explosives Course 2.
James Wood QC, defending Iqbal, said the murderous ideas were ‘generalised, ill-formed, and never settled’, and said the toy car bomb plot was completely unfeasible.
He said: “Although he contemplated committing an act of terrorism in the UK, the defendant did not form a specific intention to do so.”
Ahmed told the court he had ‘disengaged’ with extremism since his arrest, and was ashamed of his actions in 2011.
Iqbal, Ahmed, Hussain and Arshad all admitted one count of planning to commit acts of terrorism.
Judge Wilkie QC ordered 13 charges of having extremist material against the defendants to lie on file.