Fake journalist who gathered bomb making instructions and terrorist material jailed

A man who pretended to be a journalist while curating a hard drive of “terrorist documents” has been jailed.

Mohamed Kuwaldeen, 38, posed as a journalist while living in Slough before he was arrested and had his house raided.

It turns out the Sri Lankan national had forged documents about a non-existent career as a journalist. Counter Terrorism Policing South East found those documents when they took his laptop, smartphone and memory stick on November 21.

At the same time, police also found a number of terrorist and extremist-related documents relating to bomb making. In particular, they found publications which included details on how to avoid police and security services.

When questioned by police as to why he had the documents, Kuwaldeen, claimed that he was a journalist conducting research, despite the fact that he had never published an article. He was subsequently charged on November 28.

He was convicted on Thursday (June 13) following a trial at Kingston Crown Court where he insisted again he was innocent. The jury convicted him of five counts of possession of documents containing information useful for terrorist purposes, contrary to section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

He was jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Kulwadeen, of no fixed abode, will not be automatically eligible for release at the half way point of his sentence, and will serve one year on extended licence upon release.

Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, Head of CTPSE, said: “Kulwaldeen tried to make out he merely had an interest in finding out more about terrorism for journalistic purposes, yet he possessed fraudulent credentials and had never published a journalistic article in his life.

“Whilst there’s not anything to suggest that Kuwaldeen was preparing to commit acts of terrorism, the documents he had were dangerous terrorist documents, which could be used by someone to help plan and execute an attack.

“Thanks to the excellent investigative work of my detectives, Kuwaldeen was found is now facing a lengthy custodial sentence.”

Source: My London