by JNS Staff
Rob Potts, of the Manchester police, stated that if the terrorists had been successful, it could have been "one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on UK soil."
Two brothers and a third man were convicted in a court near Manchester, England, in “connection with a foiled terrorist plot intended to target the Jewish community in Greater Manchester,” the local police department said on Tuesday.
The trio aimed to “kill hundreds of innocent people” in an “Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack on Jewish communities in the north-west of England,” according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The three hoped to smuggle four high-powered, military-grade AK-47 rifles, two pistols and 900 rounds of ammunition into the country and to use them to attack a march against antisemitism in the center of Manchester and “then to move the attack to an area of north Manchester occupied predominantly by the Jewish community,” according to prosecutors.
Sir Stephen Watson, chief constable of the Greater Manchester Police, stated that “it was clear throughout this trial that the scale of the offender’s hatred towards our Jewish community knew no bounds.”
“All too recently in Sydney, and of course here in Manchester in October, the very week before this trial began, we have felt the devastation of terrorism directed toward our Jewish community,” he said.
On Oct. 2, two Jews were killed in a terrorist attack by a jihadist on Yom Kippur at a synagogue in Manchester, England.
“A terrorist attack upon our Jewish friends and neighbors is an attack on us all and is an affront to all decent people in our country,” Watson said. “Today we are again reminded of the harm that such hate seeks to cause.”
According to the police department, Walid Saadaoui (38) and Amar Hussein (52) were convicted of planning terror attacks, and Bilel Saadaoui (36) was convicted of failing to report information about a terror attack.
Saadaoui told an undercover officer, whom he thought was a fellow extremist traveler, in 2023 that he wanted to carry out a “significant terrorist attack targeting Jewish people,” according to Manchester police. According to police, Saadaoui involved Hussein in the plot and later confessed to discussing it with his brother Bilel.
The three are slated to be sentenced on Feb. 13.
Rob Potts, assistant chief constable, stated that if the terrorists had been successful, “then what followed would have been devastating and potentially one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on U.K. soil.”
The brothers are reportedly of Tunisian descent. UK prosecutors said that Hussein, “a Syrian who claimed to have fought in the Iraqi army,” was “known to be an Islamic State supporter.”
The group’s plan “included killing law-enforcement officers who might intervene,” police said.
According to prosecutors, Saadaoui told the police informant that he joined ISIS in 2013, before moving to the United Kingdom, and that he joined a Facebook page for Jews in North West England “covertly” to monitor events.
JNS Staff
Source: https://www.jns.org/trio-convicted-in-uk-for-terror-plot-to-kill-hundreds-of-jews/
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