Close X
Monday, December 2, 2024
ADVT 
National

Pakistan-Born Former Straight-A Student Wanting To Join ISIS Is Jailed For Six Years

IANS, 24 Nov, 2017 03:35 PM

    A 22-year-old Pakistan-born man has been jailed for six years in the UK for preparing acts of terrorism after being arrested in an undercover police operation last year.

     

    Mubashir Jamil, a warehouse worker for the online retailer Amazon, had told an undercover police officer he wanted to wear a suicide vest and "press the button", the Old Bailey court in London heard during his trial.

     

    He was arrested in April, a few days before he planned to leave for Turkey, after messaging the officer on a mobile app in which he also revealed that he wanted to fight for the ISIS terror group in Syria.

     

    "If you or some brother you know can put an explosive belt on me and tell me how to press, as soon as possible for security reasons, I can do something in the UK even tomorrow after I find a good target," he told the undercover officer using the name of Abu Hasan.

     

    Jamil had denied the charge of preparing acts of terror and claimed that he was hearing voices and wanted to go to Syria to be exorcised of the "jinns" that were plaguing him.

     

    The court was told that he had suffered bouts of mental illness and the judge ruled that a part of his six-year sentence will be served in a secure hospital.

     

    Jamil was a former A-grade student from Challney High School for Boys in Luton, near London.

     

    He became obsessed with the idea of martyrdom after surfing the internet for execution videos and ISIS propaganda, his trial was told.

     

    Jamil, who moved to Luton from Pakistan with his family when he was two-year-old, had planned his trip to Turkey carefully and "deliberately" changed his appearance, shaving off his beard after reading ISIS guidance online about how to be a "secret agent" in a non-Muslim country.

     

    Judge Peter Rook said yesterday his crime was only "in part" explained by his mental health disorder and described him as "dangerous".

     

    He handed Jamil a "hybrid order", meaning he will continue to be treated in a secure hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to prison.

     

    Jamil will also have to serve a further five years on extended licence, or under police monitoring, on his release.

     

    The undercover officer who entrapped Jamil had posed as ISIS handler Abu Hasan to persuade Jamil to send him a copy of his passport, photographs of himself and even a copy of the boarding pass for a flight to Turkey leaving on April 30, 2016.

     

    Jamil was caught red-handed chatting to Hasan online as counter-terrorism officers burst through his bedroom door in Luton on April 27.

     

    His online research became more sinister around November 2015, when he trawled the web for slick propaganda videos produced by ISIS.

     

    In March 2016, he was sent an ISIS "application form" by someone using the handle 'abdullah9996' on Telegram, the encrypted messaging app used by the network.

     

    The contact led him into the web of the undercover operation planned by the UK's counter-terrorism officers.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    'I'm Just So Furious': Mother And Son Both Fall Victim To Equifax Canada Hack

    'I'm Just So Furious': Mother And Son Both Fall Victim To Equifax Canada Hack
    TORONTO — Robin Harvey thought she was being financially prudent when she urged her son to sign up to monitor their credit files at Equifax Canada in 2013.

    'I'm Just So Furious': Mother And Son Both Fall Victim To Equifax Canada Hack

    'First Line Of Defence:' Calgary Schools Get Toolkit Against Child Abuse

    'First Line Of Defence:' Calgary Schools Get Toolkit Against Child Abuse
     Schools in Calgary are the first to get a toolkit aimed at helping educators across the country recognize child abuse.

    'First Line Of Defence:' Calgary Schools Get Toolkit Against Child Abuse

    B.C.'s Greens Put Ride-hailing On Legislature Agenda With Private Member's Bill

    B.C.'s Greens Put Ride-hailing On Legislature Agenda With Private Member's Bill
    VICTORIA — The Green party is taking its third run at bringing ride-hailing to British Columbia, tabling a private member's bill to pave the way for transportation companies like Uber and Lyft.

    B.C.'s Greens Put Ride-hailing On Legislature Agenda With Private Member's Bill

    Raymond Caissie Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2014 Murder Of Surrey Teen Serena Vermeersch

    Raymond Caissie Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2014 Murder Of Surrey Teen Serena Vermeersch
    NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — A British Columbia man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 17 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

    Raymond Caissie Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2014 Murder Of Surrey Teen Serena Vermeersch

    Kulwinder Kaur Gill Murder: Husband Iqbal Singh Gill Pleads Guilty To His Part In Her Murder

    Kulwinder Kaur Gill Murder: Husband Iqbal Singh Gill Pleads Guilty To His Part In Her Murder
    Kulwinder Gill was 42 when she died in April 2009, and police say the driver failed to remain at the scene on a rural road in Abbotsford.

    Kulwinder Kaur Gill Murder: Husband Iqbal Singh Gill Pleads Guilty To His Part In Her Murder

    Shots Fired Between Vehicles In Surrey's Whalley Area

    Shots Fired Between Vehicles In Surrey's Whalley Area
    Surrey RCMP is currently on scene in the Whalley area of Surrey for a report of shots being fired.

    Shots Fired Between Vehicles In Surrey's Whalley Area