Friday, September 9, 2016
By Owen Bowcott
Group tried to smuggle themselves out of UK in back of lorry to offer their services to Islamic State, Old Bailey jury hears
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Four men were discovered inside a cargo trailer at Dover port in April 2015. Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian
An undercover officer infiltrated a group of Islamic State supporters attempting to smuggle themselves out of the UK to Syria in the back of a lorry, an Old Bailey jury has been told.
Anas Abdalla, 26, from Acocks Green, Birmingham, was discovered in an empty space inside a cargo trailer at Dover port in April 2015 in the company of three other men.
One of the others, Gabriel Rasmus, 29, from Lozells, Birmingham, has already pleaded guilty, the court heard, to preparing acts of terrorism, the same offence under section 5(1) of the 2006 Terrorism Act with which Abdalla is charged.
Abdalla, who was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and first came to the UK as an asylum seeker, denies the charge. He claims he was fleeing Britain because he was being “harassed and subject to oppressive treatment” by MI5.
Outlining the evidence against him, Duncan Atkinson QC, for the prosecution, said that Abdalla held a valid UK passport when he was arrested and, like Rasmus, carried a rucksack containing an iPhone wrapped in foil, a second Nokia mobile, ID cards, £520 in cash, €250, waterproof clothing, walking boots and a G-Shock watch.
Abdalla and Rasmus, Atkinson said, were planning to travel to Syria via Bulgaria and Turkey “to join forces with so-called Islamic State and to offer their services, with their lives if necessary, to engage in acts of terrorism”. Isis, the prosecutor reminded the jury, is a banned organisation and Abdalla, he said, was preparing to commit acts of terrorism in Syria.
Rasmus had been under police investigation for some time, particularly through meetings conducted by an undercover officer known by the pseudonym “Muhamed” who was gathering information about alleged terrorist activity.
The jury are due to hear recordings made by Muhamed of conversations in which Rasmus repeatedly refers to “there” or “going there” – references, it is said, to Syria.
Muhamed also met Abdalla, who told him that “Europe held nothing for him” and that he loathed his work in IT because he had to associate with non-Muslims, the jury heard. “He said he had been called on to go to Syria to fight and wanted to do so,” Atkinson said. Abdalla, it is alleged, expressed support for Isis.
One of the other men detained in the back of the lorry was Mahamuud Diini. He, the court was told, had also been trying to leave the country covertly. Diini, however, has been prosecuted previously for seeking to travel to Syria but was acquitted.
The prosecution will challenge Abdalla’s claim that he was fleeing from security force harassment and attempt to demonstrate that difficulties in his life were due to other causes. The court was told that he did not answer interview questions after his arrest and developed his reason for leaving the country later.
The undercover officer, the court was told, had been tasked with gathering information on alleged terrorist activity. “In cases involving allegations of serious or organised criminality, the use of undercover officers is a lawful and legitimate means of obtaining vital intelligence and evidence,” Atkinson explained.
“The use and conduct of undercover officers is regulated by statute and there are strict rules which define the parameters of what an undercover officer can do or say in a particular situation.
“For example, the rules permit the undercover officer to appear to support the beliefs and actions of those he is investigating and to show ‘necessary enthusiasm’. This means he can agree with them when they talk and help them by giving them a lift, for example, but not actually engage with them in committing a crime. Those rules were followed in this case.”
The case continues.