LONDON: A British man was found guilty on Wednesday of a plot to kill PrimeMinister Theresa May by first detonating an explosive device to get intoher Downing Street office and then using a knife or a gun to attack her.
Naa’imur Rahman, 20, of north London, was convicted at the Old Bailey courtof preparing to commit acts of terrorism.
Rahman planned to detonate an improvised explosive device at the gates ofDowning Street and gain access to May’s office in the ensuing chaos andkill her, according to police.
No. 10 Downing Street is the official residence and office of British primeministers. It is heavily guarded and there is a gate at the end of thestreet where members of the public and tourists gather to get a glimpse ofthe house.
“We are talking about an individual that would have killed, injured andmaimed a number of people including police officers and members of thepublic,” said Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police’s CounterTerrorism Command.
Britain suffered four deadly attacks last year and the head of the domesticspy agency MI5 said in May that a further 12 plots had been foiled sincethe first of these in March 2017.
The Downing Street plot was foiled when Rahman believed he wascorresponding online with members of the Daesh militant group whileplanning the alleged attack but was in fact talking to members ofundercover officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation andBritain’s MI5 Security Service.
Rahman was arrested last November shortly after meeting with undercoverofficers posing as Daesh members and collecting two dummy explosive devices.
Haydon said Rahman had been in contact with an uncle who had traveled toSyria and joined Daesh and who had encouraged his nephew to carry outattacks in Britain.
Rahman had been planning to carry out the attack for two years but hisresolve was hardened when he heard that his uncle had been killed in adrone attack last summer, Haydon added.