Buckingham Palace Swordsman Jihadist Convicted of Plotting Attacks on London Landmarks

An Islamist has been convicted of plotting attacks on London landmarks, just one year after being cleared in a case in which he attacked police officers outside Buckingham Palace with a samurai sword.

Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 28, has been found guilty of plotting to attack tourist attractions in London such as Madam Tussauds, a double-decker tourist bus, and the Gay Pride Parade. In preparation for his planned attacks, the radical Islamist is said to have practised stabbing and beheading techniques and attended a shooting range training session in order to acquire a gun.

The former Uber driver revealed his intentions to an undercover police officer, saying that the gay pride parade would be a good target because it has “piss-poor security… the way they march they are asking to get hit by some jihadist”, reports the BBC

Chowdhury’s defence argued that he was a “pathetic little man” who “talks and talks, but doesn’t do”. However, in 2017 he attacked police officers outside Buckingham Palace with a samurai sword while shouting “Allah hu Akbar” (“Allah is greater [than your god]” in Arabic).

The terrorist had written a suicide note before the attack that read: “The Queen and her soldiers will all be in the hellfire, they go to war with Muslims around the world and kill them without any mercy.”

Chowdhury was cleared of any charges relating to the attack in December of 2018, after telling the jurors that his intention was to be killed by the police, but his suicidal intentions were later revealed to be a lie. In audio recordings, Chowdhury bragged to an undercover officer about how he tricked the jury in the Buckingham Palace case.

Prosecutors in the latest case against Chowdhury said that he wanted to “unleash death and suffering” on non-Muslims.

“The object was to unleash death and suffering on non-Muslim members of the public who happened to be present, using a firearm, sword and even a van, as part of an attack. Whatever the position in 2017, he was unquestionably preparing for terrorism in 2019,” said the prosecutor, Duncan Atkinson QC.

The Bangladeshi heritage terrorist was surveilled by police in a five-month operation. In a recording played for the court, Chowdhury said that he would be justified in killing a million non-believers if his jihadi cause was the “the pleasure of Allah”.

Richard Smith, the counter-terrorism commander at Scotland Yard, said that Chowdhury is an “extremely dangerous person” who was plotting “to kill and harm as many people as possible”.

Chowdhury now faces a possible life sentence in prison for the preparation of terrorist acts and the spreading terrorist propaganda.

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