The four men charged with supporting the Islamic State (IS) terror group at a series of meetings in Luton, near London, have appeared in court, where it was revealed that they met in a church hall and called for children to travel to Syria and for a 7/7 anniversary attack.
An undercover officer managed to record the extremists allegedly urging men and children to fight against the West, the Daily Mail reports. The police infiltrated the suspected cell meeting in public rooms at an Anglican church hall.
One Muslim said on tape: “The sun is setting on the British Empire and the sun is rising on the Islamic State”. Others called for bombings and attacks on the anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings
A different speaker was recorded saying that homosexuals faced “high buildings” in a reference to the gay men who are routinely murdered in Syria by being thrown off of tall buildings.
He also told fellow Muslims not to trust non-Muslims as they will “stab you in the back”.
Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, 36, Ziaur Rahman, 38, Yousaf Bashir, 35 and Rajib Khan, 37, were arrested on 2 December in Luton, just weeks after a female IS supporting cell was exposed in near by in London.
Police said the arrests and searches were part of an ongoing investigation of individuals in the Luton area and were not connected to the recent Islamic State attacks in Paris.
All of the men are from Luton, which has a Muslim population of 50,000 (24.6 per cent) and an Asian population of 61,000 (30 per cent).
The Bedfordshire town has a long history of fostering Islamic extremism and even terrorism. The 7/7 London bombers had links to the town, the Stockholm bomber was from Luton, and banned hate preachers such as Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri Mohammed once regularly spoke at the mosque on Leagrave Road.