By Andrew Young-
A teenage jihadi bride plotted a terror attack on London under the guise of an Alice In Wonderland themed tea party, a court has heard.
Safaa Boular 17 when she allegedly decided to be a “martyr” and launch a grenade and gun attack on the British Museum.
The Old Bailey heard that after her Islamic State fiance Naweed Hussain was killed in Syria before she could join him, her resolve was strengthened. Whilst in custody for allegedly attempting to travel to IS territory, she passed on the baton to her older sister Rizlaine Boular.
Calls she made from jail revealed how she talked about a “party” with her 21-year-old sibling, which was said to be a code word for a terror attack. The pair also made reference to a “Mad Hatter” and having an “Alice In Wonderland” themed tea party, jurors heard.
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Over the next three days, Rizlaine and her mother Mina Dich, 43, carried out reconnaissance around major landmarks in Westminster and bought a pack of knives and a rucksack, the court heard.
However, on April 27 last year – the day of the proposed knife attack around the Palace of Westminster – police swooped to arrest Rizlaine Boular, jurors were told.
Rizlaine Boular, of Clerkenwell, central London, has already admitted planning an attack and with the help and support of Dich, the jury was told.
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However, 18-year-old Safaa Boular, who lived at home with her mother in Vauxhall, Southwest London, denies two counts of preparing acts of terrorism.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told jurors Safaa Boular planned to “unleash violence and terror in the heart of London”.
He told the court 17-year-old Boular she was inspired following a failed bid to marry IS fighter Hussain, who was in his 30s. More sinister was her plans to die with Hussain on a suicide belt each, Atkinson QC told jurors.
After just three months chatting on social media, the couple had declared their love for each other, the court heard.
Safaa Boular wanted to marry Hussain and don a suicide belt each, jurors were told.
Mr Atkinson said: “Their plan then was that together they would, as Hussain put it, depart the world holding hands and taking others with them in an act of terrorism.”
Boular’s plans to travel to Syria accompanied by her sister was scuppered when she was stopped by police at Stansted en route home from a holiday in Morocco in August 2016.
Boular allegedly switched her attention to Britain, keeping contact with Hussain on a secret phone through encrypted Telegram chat. Unkwon to her, British Security Services had deployed specially trained role play officers to engage with the pair online to keep track of their activities.
Both Hussain and Boular talked about an ambush involving Russian-style guns and “pineapples” – code for grenades, jurors heard.
She told an officer posing as an IS fighter that all she needed was a “car and a knife to get what I want to achieve”, the court heard.
She allegedly confided that she had no time to “lounge around”, adding: “My heart yearns to be reunited with my dear husband for the very first time.”
In encrypted chat, she said Hussain had told her “something about a British Museum and the tokarev and pineapple”, Mr Atkinson said.
Tokarev was said to be a type of Russian gun and pineapple, a code word for grenades.
In a conversation on April 8 last year, Rizlaine Boular allegedly told her: “The bus goes past the British Museum and I thought of you”, in what is believed to be reference to the target.
However, on April 12, Safaa Boular was charged with planning to go to Syria so was unable to carry out her “chilling intentions”, Mr Atkinson said.
Instead, she encouraged Rizlaine “to carry the torch forward in her stead” in telephone calls from prison, he said.
Joel Bennathan QC told jurors that Safaa was “groomed” by Hussain, who was twice her age.
In an opening speech, he said: “She was a child who was sexually groomed, someone who was groomed to be radicalized. That’s what happened to this young person.”
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