A four man terror cell calling themselves the Turnup Terror Squad are on trial in London for a conspiracy to commit murder as part of an ISIS-inspired terror attack.
At the opening of the case prosecutor Brian Altman said, “With their arrests, the police successfully disrupted a plot to kill police officers, a soldier or possibly even a civilian, in one or more terrorist attacks, which, if the plot had been allowed to run its course, would have resulted in a terrorist murder or murders on the streets of London, according to the warped ideology of the defendants, in the cause, and for the sake, of Allah.”
Tarik Hassane, 22, was a medical student who allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS and became the ringleader of the group. His three co-defendants include physics student Suhaib Majeed, Nathan Cuffy, and Nyall Hamlett.
The plan was to use a gun, which Cuffy had already provided, and then escape on a moped which could not be traced back to the terror cell. They had not yet figured out how to raise the money needed to buy the moped.
The members of the alleged terror cell were arrested in September 2014, with the exception of ringleader Hassane, who was studying abroad in Sudan at the time the sweep took place.
Despite the arrests, prosecutors claim Hassane planned to carry out a “lone wolf” attack and had used Google Maps to do reconnaissance on a police station and an Army barracks in the days before he was also arrested in October.
BBC reports Hassane allegedly wrote a message when Prime Minister David Cameron announced an anti-terror campaign, “LOOOOOL David Cameron is getting himself ready for my turn up.”
Defendant Nathan Cuffy threw four guns out of his window when he was arrested. He has since pleaded guilty to a firearms offense. Defendant Nyall Hamlett has also pleaded guilty to transferring a gun and ammunition to Cuffy.
All four men deny they intended to commit murder.
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