By Eric King-
Three men who dubbed themselves the three musketeers, have been convicted for preparing acts of terrorism.They were accused of preparing a spectacular attack against a police or military target in the UK. 29 year old Naweid Ali, 25 year old Khobaib Hussein, and 33 year old Mohabir Rahman of Stoke On Trent, were convicted at the Old Bailey.
The men were trapped by an undercover police sting using a fake courier firm last August. A fourth man, 33 year old Tahir Aziz, from Stoke On Trent, was also found guilty of preparing terrorist acts.
The court heard how the gang were exchanges encryoted messages on Instagram. Hussain and Rahman have previous conviction for terrorist related incidences. Counter terrorist officials are convinced that the men unanimously convicted by 11 jurors after a 22 hour deliberation, were prevented from implementing a major terrorist attack in the UK. Head of counter terrorism division at the Crown Prosecution Service, Sue Hemming, said:
The prosecution was able to show that these men shared the same radical belief in violnt Jihad, and had reached a stage where they were planning to take action. Recent attacks have demonstrated the kind of horror these defendants could have caused, had they not been stopped”. They had been planning ”an imminent Lee Rigby style” on a police or military target, but had taken care to avoid surveillance, so the details were unclear”. The men were arrested on August 26 last year, after police discovered a bag of weapons including a pipe bomb, airpistol, and meat cleaver with the word ‘Kafir'(nonbeliever)scratche don it were found under the driver seat of Ali’s car
The three musketeers were trapped after WestMidland police and MI5 set up a fake courier company in Birmingham and hired Ali and Hussain. Police were in the process of bugging Ali’s car on his first day at work with the fake company, when they discoverd the deadly weapons. The defence failed in its argument that rogue police had attempted to frame the suspects, and they were accused of also falsifying their notes. Althouh no fingerprints were found on the bag, partial DNA belonging to Hussein was found on aroll of duct tape in the bag.
Police launched an extensive surveillance operation on the men. Te jury heard how Rahman bought phones from ebay and delivered to Ali and Hussein for ”covert decisions”, and texted Aziz to say he had two pkones, ”one hot” and ”one clean”. With some of the case taking place under a closed court, the press and public were shut out of sensitive evidence presented to the jury