A group of two men have been convicted of planning an Islamic State-inspired gun attack on a mass gathering of Jews in the Manchester area.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, had a “visceral dislike” of Jewish people and wanted to cause “untold harm” but the plot was scuppered as they unknowingly laid bare their scheme to an undercover operative (UCO).
Walid Saadaoui gave no reaction to the verdict and bowed his head as the verdict was read out.
Main instigator Saadaoui aimed to smuggle four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition into the UK in what police chiefs said could have been Britain’s deadliest terrorist incident.
Months earlier the father-of-two, originally from Tunisia, paid a deposit for the weapons and believed he had arranged for their importation with a like-minded extremist but who in fact was the UCO, referred to in court as Farouk.
Saadaoui told Farouk he could independently obtain a firearm via Sweden and indicated he was looking to bring guns from eastern Europe. Separately he had bought an air weapon and had visited a shooting range.
Counter-terrorism police intervened on the “strike day of May 8 last year, with more than 200 officers involved, as Saadaoui was arrested at a hotel car park in Bolton when he went to collect some of the firearms, which had been deactivated.
Preston Crown Court heard he hero-worshipped IS terrorist Abdelhamid Abaaoud who orchestrated the 2015 Paris terror attacks in which 130 people were killed and hundreds more injured in gun attacks across the city.
Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein have been found guilty
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PA
