‘Three Musketeers’ terror trial: Agents found bomb in car

From the Birmingham Mail

A brave undercover officer described how secret agents found a bomb in the car of a convicted terrorist then left him alone with it, not knowing whether it was about to blow up. The officer, known as Vincent, was posing as the boss of Hero Couriers to infiltrate the group dubbed the Three Musketeers who are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of plotting a terror attack on British soil.

They were arrested on August 26 last year after the pipe bomb and other items were discovered in a JD Sports bag in Naweed Ali’s car. Both 29-year-old Ali and his co-accused Khobaib Hussain, 25, had previous convictions for attending a terror training camp and had been given jobs by Vincent to travel around the country delivering parcels for £100 a day.

On Ali’s first day, he left his Seat Leon at the Hero Couriers depot in Birmingham city centre and took a van on a delivery run to Luton, the court heard. Meanwhile, British security services, accompanied by another undercover officer called Andy, arrived in a van to search Ali’s car.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, Vincent said: “Their attendance was to conduct a technical operation and a search of Naweed Ali’s vehicle. . .security officers first found what appeared to be a handgun before spotting the pipe bomb”, 

“Security services officers had advised me they had been ordered to leave the premises because they thought it could be a viable explosive device and they advised us (Vincent and Andy) to do the same. It was decided we needed to understand precisely what we were dealing with, what else was in the bag. So, I eased the contents of the bag onto the ground sheet and myself and Andy took four corners of the ground sheet and carried it into a different room.”

“…. I activated my recording device at 10.31am to described exactly on audio tape the contents of the bag.”

Vincent told jurors the bag contained a black self-loading pistol with an empty magazine strapped to it; chrome-coloured pipe with brass-coloured end caps; a “hatchet” knife; gunshot cartridges and a single 9mm bullet.”

Once bomb disposal officers had been called and Ali was in custody, Vincent went to be debriefed, he said.

Ali and Hussain, both of Sparkhill in Birmingham, and Mohibur Rahman, 32, and Tahir Aziz, 38, of Stoke-on-Trent, deny preparing terrorist acts.

Court artists sketch from ITV news

This is one of the many instances of a Birmingham connection to jihad. Because of this the EDL will demonstrate in Birmingham later today; the paid politicos of the city say they are not welcome. Well they would say that wouldn’t they…