Teenager accused of copycat Lee Rigby plot 'trawled al-Qaida propaganda'
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Version 0 of 1. A teenager accused of grooming a young man with learning difficulties to copy the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby had trawled the internet for al-Qaida propaganda, a court has heard. Kazi Islam, 18, of Newham, east London, allegedly tried to persuade 19-year-old Harry Thomas to buy the ingredients for a bomb and to attack soldiers when he gave the command. The plan was scuppered in July last year when his home was raided and his computer and two mobile phones seized, the Old Bailey trial heard. A police examination showed he had searched the internet on subjects including al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden and how to make explosives. Detective Constable Stephen Ball said Islam had downloaded a document to one phone entitled How to Make Semtex. He had searched the internet for titles such as “44 Ways to Support Jihad” and the al-Qaida magazine Inspire, and had searched YouTube for “how to make a firework bomb”, and “Israeli soldiers getting killed”, the officer said. The trial was told Islam befriended Thomas in October 2013 and encouraged him to buy hydrogen peroxide, fireworks and pipes to make an improvised explosive device referred to in messages as “cake”. He also instructed him to get a meat cleaver or kitchen knife, telling him: “When I give you the order I want you to kill a soldier ... two soldiers ... not yet though.” But when police searched Thomas’s home, they found no evidence that he had in fact bought any of the items on Islam’s terror shopping list, despite his apparent eagerness to impress. The court has heard that he was a vulnerable young man with learning difficulties who was desperate to forge a friendship. Islam denies a charge of engaging in the preparation of terrorist acts. The trial continues. |