ISIS supporter wanted to blow up petrol tanker outside Houses of Parliament

An alleged ISIS fanatic wanted to blow up a petrol tanker outside the Houses of Parliament, a court has heard.

Naa’imur Rahman, 20, planned to detonate explosives at the security gates of number 10 and decapitate Theresa May, prosecutors claim.

They say he told an MI5 spy that if a petrol tanker was driven to Westminster he would explode a bomb underneath it.

Rahman was arrested in Kensington, west London on November 28 last year with fake IEDs which were given to him by a security officer posing as an ISIS agent.

He pledged allegiance to the despotic Caliphate and sent the audio recording to a counter-terrorism officer posing as an ISIS commander only ten days prior, believing he was only “days away” from carrying out his attack, the Old Bailey heard.

Bangladeshi Rahman intended to blow up the gates of Downing Street and make a dash for Theresa May so he could “take her head off”, prosecutors say.

The court heard Rahman had praised Manchester bomber Salman Abedi, who killed 22 people by detonating explosives at a crowded Arianna Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in May last year.

Rahman is on trial along with 22-year-old Mohammad Imran, who planned to join the Islamic State in Libya after saving up £3,600 and obtaining a fake passport to leave the UK, it is alleged.

After they were both arrested on November 28, Imran’s Birmingham address was searched and a copy of popular terrorist manual How to Survive in the West: A Mujhajid’s Guide was found on his Amazon Kindle.

The guide’s chapters include advice on bomb making – “how to use shrapnel in order to cause maximum damage” – as well as transporting explosives safely and secure internet browsing.

Mark Heywood, prosecuting, said Imran told police: “He was intending to travel abroad to a Muslim country but this was not for a terrorist purpose but for religious reasons.

“He also intended to marry and that he might need a fake passport because his mum kept his passport.”

The court heard Imran had written on his wardrobe door on blue paper: “Go for jihad now, do you really want to stay at home whilst others are lasting Jannah? Do not miss out on the chance of jihad.”

Mr Heywood QC said: “At his home was an Amazon Kindle device, it can accommodate documents in electronic form.

“Some of the documents on that device turned out to be of interest to the investigation…For example things with titles such as ‘Those Who Do Not Fear Them’, Slicing The Sword Against The One Who Finds Allegiance With Disbelievers.

“Also on this device was ‘Milestones’, Islam is verging on extinction and the difficulty is non believers, Western values and perhaps steps that might be taken in order to reverse that decline up to and including violence if necessary.”

Both Rahman and Imran had been communicating via Telegram with undercover security agents posing as ISIS bosses.

Rahman told officers his uncle had already travelled to Syria and joined Islamic State before he was killed in a drone strike, the court heard.

The public gallery was cleared as an officer gave evidence behind a curtain.

The officer said that Rahman messaged him just before 6am on 14 September last year saying: “The brother gave me your number about help with committing dogma in London.”

Rahman and the officer exchanged texts between September 14 and November 27 last year in the lead up to the arrests.

The officer said Rahman had set the Telegram app’s self-destruct timer to delete messages after 10 seconds.

Rahman messaged the officer saying: “Can you put me in a sleeper cell asap, I was raided for my connection to my uncle.”

After the pair exchanged blessings and greetings Rahman told the officer: “I want to do a suicide bomb on Parliament. I want to attempt to kill Theresa May.”

The MI5 agent said: “Akhi [Brother] you need to have patience and this needs to be planned properly.”

Rahman said: “There are lorries here with big gas tankers, if a brother can drive it next to Parliament… I will bomb.

“All I need now is a sleeper cell to lay low for now.”

Rahman later added: ‘I have no desire for this life.

“My desire for paradise makes me strong, for two years I have been planning.”

When Rahman asked if the officer knew his uncle in Sham (Syria) the officer said: “We were in different departments.”

The Parsons Green bombing occurred on 15 September after Ahmed Hassan packed a bucket with shrapnel and detonated it on a busy District Line train in south west London.

Rahman messaged the officer saying: “A brother managed a bomb here on a tube, praise to Allah, this is the start.

“All I can do is compare, I saw the news, the level is critical here.”

Rahman also gloated over the Ariana Grande concert bombing and told the officer: “The brother in Manchester did well, all praise to Allah.”

On November 28, the day of his arrest, Rahman was communicating with an undercover police officer, who he met in Kensington at 2.20pm.

The officer handed Rahman a jacket and backpack which were fitted with replica explosives, along with replica pepper spray, a set of plastic gloves and a blue holdall bag with a padlock.

Rahman was told the time-delay on the detonation mechanism was 10 seconds and he would have to get the knife for the attack himself.

When he was asked if he was ready to carry out the attack Rahman responded: “Yeah, do you know, now I’ve seen everything it feels good.”

Rahman was told the amount of explosives was similar to that used by the Manchester suicide bomber.

He walked away from the officer’s car and was arrested by counter-terrorism officers, and while en route to the police station he said: “I’m glad it’s over, I’m glad I’m arrested.”

Both Rahman and Imran thought about going to a conflict zone such as Syria to ‘lend support to the violence,’ said Mr Heywood.

Imran, a former student at South and City College, Birmingham, allegedly kept an Isis sponsorship video filmed by Rahman, which was his ‘golden ticket’ to join the terrorists, jurors heard.

Rahman, of Ballards Lane, Finchley, north London, denies preparing to commit terrorist acts, and one count of intending to assist Mohammed Imran with terrorist acts.

Imran, of Ombersley Road, Birmingham, denies one count of preparing to commit acts of terrorism and one count of possession of a document likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism.

Source: Mirror