September 09, 2008
Bombmaking Material Found in Home of 'al Qaeda in Britain' Suspect
The fifth suspect arrested in the 'Umar Rabie al-Khalaila, Emir of al Qaeda in Britain' ring has been named and charged. He is 29 year old Krenar Lusha, from Derby.
And this time it looks like he was doing more than just making idle threats online. He was making a bomb:
This morning he was charged with three offences under the Act.For a nitrate based bomb, four kilograms isn't going to do that much damage. Unless of course one was to add some shrapnel and detonate the bomb in a crowded and enclosed area. Like, say, a subway train. But perhaps he was just in the testing phase or slowly accumulating material so as not to be detected?The offences relate to allegedly possessing four kilograms of potassium nitrate for use in a terrorist act and possessing information on how to make explosives and bombs between January 1 and August 27 this year.
The BBC adds this helpful clue:
Mr Ahmad [ed note: another in the ring] is accused of having material such as camouflage clothes and plans for "urban combat"Hmmmmmm.
Expect updates. Thanks to Or Shahor.
September 01, 2008
4th Charged in 'al Qaeda in Britain' Terror Threats
Update in the 'Umar Rabie al-Khallilah, Emir of al Qaeda in Britain' terror threats. Another man has been charged in relation to the threats which were not only on the current PM, but on Tony Blair, and on all British civilians.
In addition to the charges filed today against 24 year old Muhammad Ali Mumtaz Ahmad, three others have been charged. They are:
Abbas Iqbal, 23 from Blackburn.
Ilyas Iqbal, 21 from Blackburn.
Ishaq Kanmi, 22 from Blackburn.
One more person is being held without charge.
Lancashire Police released the following statement today:
A man arrested on Tuesday August 26th 2008 at Blackburn under the Terrorism Act, has today Monday 1st September been charged with a terrorism offence.
Muhammad Ali Mumtaz Ahmad, 24, of Whalley Range, Blackburn is charged with possession of an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that his possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism contrary to Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He is jointly charged with Abbas and Ilyas Iqbal.
Ahmad will appear before Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow (Tuesday, September 2)
His arrest was the culmination of a counter-terrorism operation co-ordinated and led by Lancashire Constabulary, supported by officers from the Greater Manchester Counter Terrorism Unit.
August 30, 2008
'AQ in Britain' Update: Threats Against Blair & Public; 5th Suspect from Kosova
Three pieces of new information from MSM sources about the 'al Qaeda in Britain' ring which posted online terrorist death threats. Since there are a lot of different sources, I'll just sum up the main developments:
1) MSM sources now reporting that in addition to threats on current PM Gordon Brown's life they also threatened Tony Blair. For the first time police are admitting that the group also threatened to carry out terrorist attacks on the general public as well.
2) The fifth man arrested in conjunction with those threats had been reported as being 'Eastern European', the implication being that he was a convert to Islam. It turns out, he's from Kosovo. He still has not been charged or publicly named.
3) Another house has been searched and police showed up at a plastics factory as part of the investigation.
August 29, 2008
'Al Qaeda in Britain' Leader was Imam in Finland? 3 Appear in Court
Now here's an interesting twist in the 'al Qaeda in Britain' threat to kill the Prime Minister. A Finnish newspaper is reporting that Ishaq Kanmi, the 22 year old Blackburn man charged with soliciting murder, was a part-time imam in Finland. Imam is their word, not mine:
One of Brown murder threat suspects was imam in FinlandIn other news Kanmi and the Iqbal brothers, Abbas and Ilyas appeared in court today and were formally charged. They have been remanded to custody.One of the three men charged with terrorism offences in Britain on Thursday had visited Finland over a number of years to lead prayers during Ramadan, Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reported on Friday.
Two others in the 'Umar Rabie' ring, both of them converts to Islam, remain in custody but have not been formally charged.
August 28, 2008
Three Charged in 'al Qaeda in Britain' Plot; Umar Rabie ID'd
Three of the men identified in the "Umar Rabie al-Khallilah emir of al Qaeda in Britain" plot have been charged. We also now have some clues over who "Umar Rabie" and "Umar Rabies Bro" are.
Umar Rabie is most likely Abbas Iqbal, 23 from Blackburn. Umar Rabies Bro, the younger brother Ilyas Iqbal, 21.
The interesting thing here is that Ishaq Kanmi, 22 and also from Blackburn, faces the most serious charge of "soliciting murder". The same charge that landed the one-eyed and hook-handed Abu Hamza al-Masri a 7 year jail sentence.
I always assumed that it would be Umar Rabie who faced the most serious charge, but perhaps more than one person posted using the "Umar Rabie" alias? In any event it looks like the threat on Tony Blair and Gordon Brown's life at the Ekhlaas forum was done by Ishaq, and not brothers Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumber.
It will be interesting to see how the real members of al Qaeda and former Afghan mujhaideen respond to Ishaq, Abbas, and Ilyas's presence in Belmarsh. I'd pay to be a fly on that wall.
So, three in the ring charged and two being held pending charges. Our hat goes off to whoever it was that tracked these guys down.
Here's the statement from the Lancashire police:
THREE men arrested on August 14th 2008 at Manchester Airport and Accrington under the Terrorism Act 2000/6, have today Thursday 28 August 2008 been charged with terrorism offences.Ishaq Kanmi, 22 years of Cromwell Street, Blackburn, charged with:
1) Soliciting Murder contrary to section 4 of the Offences Against the Person ACT 1861.
2) Belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation (Al-Qaeda), contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
3) Inviting Support for a proscribed organisation, contrary to Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
4) Dissemination of terrorist publications, contrary to section 2(1) and 2(f) of the Terrorism Act 2006. * Jointly charged with Abbas Iqbal.
Abbas Iqbal, 23 years of Percival Street, Blackburn charged with:
1) Dissemination of terrorist publications, contrary to section 2(1) and 2(f) of the Terrorism Act 2006. * Jointly charged with Ishaq Kanmi.
2) Possession of an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that his possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism. Contrary to Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000. * Jointly charged with Ilyas Iqbal.
Ilyas Iqbal, 21 years of Percival Street, Blackburn charged with:
1) Possession of an article in circumstances which give rise to a reasonable suspicion that his possession is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism. Contrary to Section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2000. * Jointly charged with Abbas Iqbal.
2) Collecting or making a record of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Their arrests were the culmination of a counter-terrorism operation co-ordinated and led by Lancashire Constabulary, supported by officers from the Greater Manchester Police Counter Terrorism Unit.
All three men are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday the 29th of August 2008.
A fourth man, arrested on Tuesday morning (26 August 2008) in Blackburn and a fifth man arrested in Derby the same day, remains in custody. Yesterday, Lancashire Constabulary and Greater Manchester Police CTU were granted an additional seven days to question them.
August 27, 2008
Make that FIVE Arrested Over "al Qaeda in Britain" Threat
A 29 year old Central European was arrested today in Derby over ties to the Umar Rabie "al Qaeda in Britain" terror threats. That would make him the second convert to Islam arrested in the case, and the fist one outside the Manchester area.
Five? Kinda starting to sound like a "cell" to me.......
Dear Z-Man, Infidels are Mean. Can I Kill Them? Umar Rabie Asks Ayman al-Zawahiri for Advice
You'd think that a guy claiming to be the "emir of al Qaeda in Britain" would have a better way of communicating with Ayman al-Zawahiri than asking him question on a public internet forum that promised to forward all questions to the Z-man, wouldn't you?
I'll note that this is a British tabloid, so while it is true that Umar Rabie's message was "sent" to Zawahiri and that he therefore "communicated" with al Qaeda's central command, the impression left by using those words in the article is that there was some sort of relationship.
Here's what really happened. Al Qaeda announced that it would be taking questions from forum users and Zawahiri would later answer those questions. Forum users----a lot of them---posted questions to Zawahiri. Umar Rabie was one of those users.
So, is there a relationship between Umar Rabie and Ayman al-Zawahiri? These posts certainly don't help that case. But absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and all that jazz. And questions over whether Umar Rabie, his brother, and their circle of friends were officially part of al Qaeda are best left to organizational theorists.
Victims of terrorism are rarely concerned with whether or not they were killed by an official member of the group, or just a cell of copycats.
Anyway, on to tabloid.
Cops are thought to be probing an internet message he allegedly sent to Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda No2, who dreamt up the 9/11 atrocities.Thanks to a friend in the UK.One chilling section – seen by The Sun – read: “Is the British Muslim allowed to kill British civilians, whether they are nonbelievers or Muslims who support the war against Afghanistan, Iraq and others?”
Another asked Al-Zawahiri if jihad was an “obligation” for Muslims in Britain.
The notes were sent by a man calling himself Sheikh Umar Rabie, who bragged he was al-Qaeda’s leader in the UK.
August 26, 2008
Man Identified in "al Qaeda in Britain" Cell
One of the four men detained by Lancashire police over terroristic threats on Gordon Brown's life in the name of 'al Qaeda in Britain' has been identified.
His name is Ishaq Kanmi, a 22 year old teacher from Blackburn.
The Telegraph reports.:
The mother of one of the arrested trio insists that her son is innocent.Ah, yes, the traditional Ramadan Hajj to ...... Helsinki?Mariam Kanmi, 50, said her son, Ishaq, 22, a teacher, was arrested as he prepared to fly out to Helsinki, where he was due to spend the month of Ramadan at a conference.
"My son is an innocent boy and we are a well-respected family here," said Mrs Kanmi. "He is not involved in terrorism.
"He hasn't incited anyone to kill Mr Brown. He hasn't plotted with terrorists. We haven't even got a TV here or the internet.
"He was going to Finland for Holy month. There was going to be a grand opening but he has missed that. He's been going there for six years. He always teaches abroad".
She added: "It's wrong that he's being held. Why are they taking this long?"
You notice that she says he doesn't have the internet at home. Maybe not, but I'd guess that he had internet access at work. Which also happens to be a school.
Which I'm guessing also had publicly accessible computers. Where any one--say, one of his friends from mosque--might go and surf jihadi websites. Or email people. All on the taxpayers dime........
Fourth Arrested in Umar Rabie "al Qaeda in UK" Plot
UPDATE: One man identified as Ishaq Kanmi, a 22 year old teacher from Blackburn.
A fourth man arrested in connection online threats made by "Sheikh Umar Rabie al-Khalaila" the emir of "al Qaeda in Britain". This particular Umar Rabie associate is described by several British papers as a 25 year old "white convert" to Islam living in Blackburn.
A source with connections to the Manchester area tells me that the fourth man was seen protesting last night outside the home of "Umar Rabie" and his brother, both of whom are in police custody but have not been charged. He tells me that a local paper took pictures of the man and they may be published either tonight or tomorrow.
A police van was also seen parked in front of an Islamic bookshop in the Whalley Range neighborhood near where the man was arrested. That bookshop is most likely the Islamic Book Centre, on Whalley Range in Blackburn. The shop's website does not seem to promote extremist literature.
Another source says that police were seen investigating a small apartment in the back of a halal meat shop in the same neighborhood.
In addition to threatening a terrorist attacks against the British government in January, Umar Rabie has claimed to have personally met Osama bin Laden. A claim not unlike his claim to be the leader of al Qaeda in England---that is: probably not believable.
Nevertheless the arrest of a fourth 20-something year old man indicates that Umar Rabie, his brother, and their other associates were at least talking about how to commit acts of terror ---even if plans to carry them out were in their early stages or were mere bluster.
The problem, of course, is that you cannot know who is full of bluster and who will actually follow through on promises to kill the infidel until its too late. This is especially dangerous in an era where al Qaeda increasingly encourages its fans to carry out individual acts of jihad. They've essentially green lighted entrepreneurial supports to commit acts of terror in their name without any further guidance or support from central command.
Further, two of the suspects--Umar Rabie and an unnamed associate--were nabbed as they were leaving the country for Finland. Which means the plot may have included other extremists that the group met online. Scandinavia has a large Muslim immigrant population, including many Kurds with sympathies toward an Iraqi terror group called Ansar al-Islam. Several years ago a group calling themselves al Qaeda in Scandinavia made several poorly made videos warning of terror attacks.
Prior to the online threats against the UK government in the name of al Qaeda, Umar Rabie and his associates from the Blackburn area publicly asked for British Muslims willing to carry out suicide attacks to contact them.
Expect updates......
UPDATE: Two of the suspects are said to have lived on Percival Street where their family has lived for some time. Most likely we have found the home of the Umar Rabie brothers. Percival Street is only two blocks long.
A neighbor says the pair attended an Islamic school. Unsurprisingly, he also describes them as "normal everyday lads".
Previous Posts on Umar Rabie:
Man Identified in "al Qaeda in Britain" Cell
Notorious al Qaeda Sympathizer was Security Guard
Emir of al Qaeda in Britain Arrested
Al-Qaeda to Britain..Leave Iraq and Afghanistan
Good News: "al Qaeda in Britain" Announced
August 24, 2008
Notorious al Qaeda Sympathizer was Security Guard
It turns out Umar Rabie, the self-proclaimed leader of al Qaeda in Britain, really did have a brother who, as some of you know, used the incredibly cryptic online nom de plum "umar rabies bro". Genius.
As we noted a couple of days ago, Umar Rabie and two others were arrested last week on terrorism related charges. Umar Rabie, on behalf of al Qaeda in England, had made threats against Gordon Brown at a famous online forum. I also predicted at the time that one of the three would turn out to be "Umar Rabie's Brother".
I was right. Umar Rabie's brother was arrested along with one other.
There is no God but Allah and Rusty is his Prophet.
I, along with pretty much every one else who knew the pair from their online antics on lesser known forums, never took them very seriously. But maybe I should have?
Three suspected terrorists have been arrested over internet threats to kill the Prime Minister.So, the question is what was Umar Rabie's bro, who publicly claimed he was a member of al Qaeda, guarding?Two men were arrested at Manchester airport last week as they prepared to leave the country and a third, the brother of one of the other men, was detained in Accrington, Lancashire where he worked as a security guard.
This is a guy who recently publicly wrote:
Make Duaa for me that Allah gives me Martyrdom in his path.And who upon hearing about the death of al Qaeda leader Abu Laith al-Libi wrote:
we will take revenge O' crusaders... soon....This guy. Was guarding someone or something. Scary, no?
And FYI, just in case any one is interested, Umar Rabie (not the "bro", the Umar Rabie) also has publicly claimed that he has met with Osama bin Laden:
i say this because when i met sheikh usama in 1999 he told me about zawahiri, and he praised sheikh ayman so much that i start thinking that az zawahiri is obl's leader.UPDATE: Our Zionist cabal insider notes in the comments that Umar Rabie would have been somewhere around 13 back in 1999, so maybe he's not to be taken at his word. This wouldn't be the first time Umar Rabie or his bro stretched the truth. Duly noted.sheikh ayman az zawahiri is a hero,
whenever he sends an audio/video then he incites all sunni muslims to defend their religion...
allahu akbar
Then again, with some people, jihad runs in the family.
Not that I take anything these guys said at face value. I don't.
In fact, for many reasons the Umar Rabie trio reminds me of the Boy Who Cried Wolf story. What most people get out of that story is that you shouldn't lie. These three had the art of lying down to a science.
But another thing to get out of that story is that sometimes there really is a wolf.
August 22, 2008
Emir of al Qaeda in Britain Arrested
It turns out that al Qaeda's "emir" in Britain, "Sheikh Umar Rabie al-Khalaila", is a guy in his early 20s from the Manchester area. You may remember him from the threat he made against Gordon Brown back in January on al-Ekhlaas and other forums.
A punk kid wannabe who was more talk than actual threat? Maybe. At least that's how he started out. But kids grow up. And even if he had no direct connection to al Qaeda (nobody really took him serious when he made the threat), it looks like the Brits nabbed him with two of his buddies (one of them, no doubt, his "brother" who was always bragging about him on a certain forum) as they were leaving the country.
As we've learned over and over again, it's not that difficult to go from wannabe to terrorist. And given his connection to at least two others, that makes it a cell. A cell of jihad supporters who spent their days fantasizing about killing the infidel online.
Three wannabes together are a lot more dangerous than an individual. It's a simple law of probability: one of them might actual do something bad someday: or worse, the three motivate one another to do collectively what they lacked the courage to do individually.
On a personal note to Umar Rabie, here's a bit of advice.
Anyway, on to the facts as we know them. TimesOnline:
Three men arrested under terrorism legislation are being questioned over internet threats to kill Gordon Brown and the former Prime Minister Tony Blair.Note to friends of Umar Rabie and his "brother" below:One of the men being questioned by police in Manchester is suspected of posting a death threat on a recognised jihadi website and styling himself Sheikh Umar Rabie al-Khalaila, leader of al-Qaeda in Britain.....
The three detainees are aged 21, 22 and 23 and all come from Blackburn, Lancashire, where extensive searches have been carried out.
One man was detained in the Accrington area and the other two were arrested at at Manchester airport before they could board a flight to the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
UPDATE: The three were arrested on August 14, 8 days ago. Which may mean something .....
Since it's open source, let me just add this teaser: in addition to a lot bluster about "Umar Rabie's" ties to al Qaeda in Iraq, the group also made terroristic threats online prior to the threats they made against Gordon Brown.
Specifically, they put out a call for suicide attack volunteers to attack British civilians.
Yes, really.
I also opened a category archive on Umar Rabie. Expect updates on this.
Friends of Umar Rabie from that other website should feel free to drop a comment or an e-mail. I'm sure all of you are as delighted as I am. And, since I know what's on your mind, the answer is: no.
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Good News: "al Qaeda in Britain" Announced
Al-Qaeda to Britain..Leave Iraq and Afghanistan
