LONDON- He knew what supplies he needed, including a black-and-grayCarbrini sports backpack and a hooded down jacket. Standard touristprovisions in Britain.
He had the timing all worked out. If he could just get past the gate, a10-second sprint would find him at the most famous door in the world – thepolished black entrance to 10 Downing Street, the emblem of the Britishstate.
Once inside, Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman hoped to behead the building’sresident, Prime Minister Theresa May.
But Rahman was not the only one in on the plan. He shared his ambitionswith a man, “Shaq,” who presented himself as a weapons fixer for IslamicState militants. The supposed extremist helper was in fact an undercoverpolice officer working alongside MI5, Britain’s domestic security service,and the FBI, according to the BBC.
The undercover operation succeeded in nabbing Rahman, 20, who was convictedWednesday at the Old Bailey courthouse in London of preparing acts ofterrorism. He had been arrested in November 2017 and will be sentenced at alater date.
The resident of north London, who has given his nationality asBangladeshi-British, was first flagged by authorities three years ago overconcerns that the teenager, raised in an industrial town near Birmingham,was vulnerable to brainwashing by his uncle, British media reported. Hisuncle, who left Britain for Syria in 2014, aimed to persuade his nephew tostage an attack and had sent him bombmaking materials, according toauthorities.
A coalition drone strike near Raqqa killed the uncle, Musadikur Rohaman, inJune 2017. It was when Rahman learned of his family member’s death,prosecutors alleged, that he set out to take revenge. His target became theprime minister of the country where he was sleeping in the back of a car,after quarrels with his mother and other relatives had left him homeless.Advertisement
The same year, a probe into allegations that Rahman had sent lewd images toan underage girl turned up evidence that he had stayed in contact with hisuncle. He was never charged in the initial investigation, but a search ofhis phone set off concern that he had developed extremist views, theGuardian reported.
The undercover operation began when Rahman made contact with an FBI agentimpersonating an Islamic State official on social media. The Americanintelligence officer introduced him to MI5 agents posing as fellowextremists.Advertisement
“Can you put me in a sleeper cell ASAP?” Rahman asked members of thesecurity services appearing as Islamist militants over the Telegrammessaging app. “I want to do a suicide bomb on parliament. I want toattempt to kill Theresa May.”
He reaffirmed his resolve the next day, writing, “My objective is to takeout my target. Nothing less than the death of the leaders of parliament.”Advertisement
His planning included surveying the grounds of the British civil serviceand government and giving a backpack and jacket to the undercover policeofficer, who promised to line the items with explosives. In conversationswith the officer, he also praised the Manchester bomber who had left 23dead, including himself, at an Ariana Grande concert months earlier. Themass-casualty event was among a string of terrorist attacks that buffetedBritain in 2017, putting security services on high alert. One strikeunfolded outside the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the BritishParliament.
Rahman seemed to draw inspiration from these attacks.
“I wanna drop a bag at the gate, so the gate blows up a bit and I can gothrough and then like, make a run, like I was thinking taking a humanhostage until I get to the actual door,” Rahman told “Shaq,” the undercoverpolice officer, in a recording played in court.
His intention, he said, was to “make a dash for Theresa May. She sleepsthere every night.” He told the undercover agent that his intention was to”take her head off.”
Rahman’s initial aim had been to obtain a truck bomb and firearms, but herevised his planning because he knew neither how to drive nor how to fire agun. He settled for more crude weaponry and offered up a backpack andjacket to be outfitted for an attack. At the end of November, the agentreturned Rahman’s backpack and jacket with fake explosives. “Do you know?Now I’ve seen everything it feels good,” Rahman told the officer as he tookback the belongings, according to the recording played in court.
Rahman was detained as he walked away from the scene, later saying, “I’mglad it’s over.”
During the trial, which began in June, prosecutors said they believedRahman had been days away from attempting to carry out his plot on May’slife. The accused told jurors that his planning had been nothing more thanfantasy, and that he had merely been trying to impress men he believed tobe associates of his uncle.
Security precautions are designed to keep plans to infiltrate 10 DowningStreet in the realm of fantasy. The street on which the residence sits hasbeen closed to the public since 1989 and is heavily guarded. Defenses grewmore severe after the Irish Republican Army launched mortar shells in anattempt to kill John Major, the prime minister at the time, along withCabinet members then presiding over British participation in the Gulf War.- Washington Post