Terror accused planned to buy ‘sausage’ from firearms dealer, court hears

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/16/terror-plot-accused-sausage-court

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Two men accused of being involved in a terrorist plot in London were covertly recorded as they apparently prepared to buy a firearm, the Old Bailey has heard.

A listening device in their car recorded them using the codewords “sausage” and “sauce” to describe items they planned to purchase, the jury was told.

Their intentions appeared to become clear, however, when one of the men, Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, asked: “What’s the sausage?” His alleged accomplice Erol Incedal replied: “Bullets.”

The pair discussed whether the man they planned to meet also dealt in drugs or whether – using a slang word for firearms – he dealt only in “strap”.

Incedal, 26, from south London, was placed under audio surveillance after he was arrested for a traffic violation in September last year. Police who searched his E-Class Mercedes found the home address of Tony and Cherie Blair on a piece of paper inside his Versace glasses case. The listening device was fitted inside the vehicle during the two hours that he spent in police cells.

The trial has heard that Incedal, a law student with three children, apparently had access to significant sums of money. At one point, one of the men was recorded as he counted out a sum of money, said to be 1,000 – although the denomination is not clear – in order to purchase the firearm. In another recording, Incedal is heard to state: “Money – it’s easy. Yeah?”

Significant parts of the trial are being held in secret, with the prosecution describing it as an exceptional case. After media organisations appealed against plans to hold the entire trial in secret, the court of appeal ruled that the core of the trial should still be heard behind closed doors, but that the media should be able report some sessions. It is possible that the core of the case may be reported following a review at the end of the trial.

During the 13 days between the listening device being fitted and the two men being arrested by armed police who forced the vehicle to a halt near Tower Bridge, conversations in the car were recorded continually. Those surveillance recordings, which have been played to the jury over two days, show that the two men had travelled to Syria – both commented to a friend, also travelling in the car, how cold it had been when they had been in the Syrian mountains.

They also show that the pair took a close interest in the split between Islamic State (Isis) and the jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra. They had a lengthy conversation about those groups’ relationships with al-Qaida. At one point, Incedal appeared to identify with Isis, saying of al-Nusra: “They’re defectors, they’ve defected from us.”

In another recording, Rarmoul-Bouhadjar urged Incedal to leave his wife, fearing that she might disclose matters that should be concealed. “You should separate man. Do you know what I’m worried about now? She knows some of our secrets, like … She might be mental and say too much and just chat shit.”

The two men also discussed the nature of radicalism and terrorism. “What does radical mean?” Incedal asked. “Radical means you follow your principles to the core. Extremist: that’s the word we don’t agree with. We are not extreme.

“They are saying we are being extreme with our religion. We are not extreme with our religion. They say we are extremist with our terror. We are not extreme with our terror. That’s the word. Radical is a very good word. It’s actually a very upper class word. Another word – terrorist. That’s a great word. Terrorist. That’s a great word, Mounir. There’s never been a greater word than that, that’s been used to describe us.”

Before the apparent attempt to purchase a firearm, Incedal was recorded giving Rarmoul-Bouhadjar a mobile telephone and instructing him to use it to “update me at every stage and just say the sausage is nice, erm, there’s enough sauce in it.”

Rarmoul-Bouhadjar said: “What’s the sausage?”

Incedal replied: “Bullets. If there’s not enough sauce in it, you’ll have to make that decision if we’re going to take it or not … If it’s less than five it’s not worth it bruv. Understand? I mean that big time. How much you got on you?”

Rarmoul-Bouhadjar: “Thirty.”

After the men were arrested, police are said to have found that both were carrying SD memory cards containing documents concerning bomb-making.

The jury has heard that Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, also 26 and from south London, has admitted possession of the documents. He will be sentenced after Incedal’s trial.

Incedal denies two terrorism charges. The first, brought under section 5(1) of the Terrorism Act 2006, states that between 1 February 2012 and 14 October 2013 he intended to commit acts of terrorism or assist another to commit them.

The second charge, under the Terrorism Act 2000, states that he is accused of possessing a document on or before 13 October last year that is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

The jury has been told that Incedal was preparing to mount an attack that could have been against a small group of people or a single prominent person. Alternatively, the prosecution alleges, he may have been planning an indiscriminate attack on a hotel, like that mounted in Mumbai, India, in 2008.

The trial continues.