Blairs may have been UK terrorist attack target

A man accused of plotting a terrorist attack in the UK may have been planning to target Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie Booth, the Old Bailey central criminal court in London has heard.

Erol Incedal's precise target remained unclear, the jury was told, but it may have been a prominent person, or small number of people, or he may have been planning an indiscriminate attack on a hotel, such as that mounted in Mumbai, India, in 2008.

The former prime minister’s home address was discovered when Mr Incedal’s black Mercedes car was stopped for a road traffic matter and searched in September last year, said Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting. It was written on a piece of paper inside the defendant’s glasses case.

A listening device was placed in the car after the search, and Mr Incedal was subsequently recorded talking about the need to find an “illegal house”, to avoid moving material around. He was also heard to tell his wife that he hated white people, and that he was “effed” if something had been found in his car.

Arrested

Mr Incedal (26) from south London, was arrested the following month when three police vehicles surrounded his Mercedes and armed officers shot out the tyres. His passenger, Mounir Rarmoul-Bouhadjar, also 26 and from south London, was arrested at the same time.

Both men had SD memory cards wrapped in masking tape inside the cases of their Apple iPhones, Whittam said. On the cards were three files about bomb-making.

The jury heard Mr Rarmoul-Bouhadjar has admitted possession of the documents. He will be sentenced after Mr Incedal’s trial.

Mr Incedal denies two charges. The first alleges that between February 1st, 2012, and October 14th, 2013, he intended to commit acts of terrorism or assist another to commit them.

The second charge stated he was accused of possessing a document on or before October 13th last year, that was “likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.

Handwritten note

Mr Whittam said that at the same time as the Blairs’ address was found, police discovered a notebook containing the handwritten note: “Oh you the believers, fight those of the infidel who are near to you. Why do you not fight in Allah’s cause for those oppressed men, women and children who cry out: ‘Rescue us from this town.’ ”

Mr Indecal’s laptop had been in the boot of the Mercedes and was later recovered from one of his two homes. A subsequent examination of the computer showed that a user profile, “tom13”, had been used to create a Skype account in a woman’s name, Fatima Hamoodi, and that a Yahoo email account in that name had been used to communicate with one established in the name “Zaynab Alawi”.

The Hamoodi account received a number of emails that the prosecution alleged were coded suggestions. The word “straps” was alleged to refer to firearms, while “k 1122aaa shhh etc” was alleged to refer to Kalashnikovs, and “mo88m 55bayy style” to a Mumbai- style attack.

Mr Whittam told the jury: "You will hear that he was actively engaged with another or others who were abroad. The prosecution case is that such engagement was for an act, or acts of terrorism, either against a limited number of individuals, an individual of significance, or a more wide-ranging and indiscriminate attack such as the one in Mumbai in 2008, an attack on members if the public in general, particularly in a hotel." – (Guardian service)