Briton’s plot to behead soldier
A PLOT to lure a British Muslim soldier to his death and behead
him “like a pig” has been outlined to a jury.
The man behind the plot was Parviz Khan, 37, an unemployed
teaching assistant from Birmingham, central England, who wanted to
post film of the atrocity on the internet to “cause panic and fear
within the armed forces and the wider public”.
Khan, pictured, who has already pleaded guilty at Leicester
Crown Court, was said to be behind a terror cell and had been under
surveillance by security services.
Nigel Rumfitt, QC, prosecuting, said the plotters intended to
produce a video showing the soldier’s identity card to prove who he
was. Khan was “enraged by the idea that Muslim soldiers were in the
British army”. He decided to kidnap a soldier on a night out, with
the help of drug dealers from Birmingham.
In covert recordings, Khan, who was given the codename Motorway
Madness during surveillance, was heard to say: “It would terrorise
British soldiers and young Blair is going to go crazy.”
Mr Rumfitt said of the beheading plan: “The initial idea was to
approach him in Broad Street (Birmingham) and lure him into a car,
then take him to a lock-up garage and there he would be murdered by
having his head cut off like a pig.”
Khan had approached Gambian Basiru Gassama, 30, to help identify
a victim. Gassama had previously pleaded guilty to failing to
inform authorities of the plot.
“Parviz Khan is a fanatic, a man who has the most violent and
extreme Islamist views,” Mr Rumfitt said. “He is at the centre of a
terror cell, or network, based in Birmingham.”
The court was told that Khan gathered money and equipment to be
sent to Pakistan and to terrorists operating in and around the
Afghan border. He claimed he was helping earthquake victims, but
the court heard the trips began 10 months before the earthquake in
2005.
When fellow defendant Zahoor Iqbal’s home was searched, a bag
was found with a CD, Encyclopaedia Jihad, the court was
told. It contained a US field manual encyclopaedia of war. The disc
also contained a poisons book and information about improvised
explosives, it was alleged.
Iqbal denies possessing a document or record likely to be useful
to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
Amjad Mahmood, 32, from Birmingham, denies knowing about Khan’s
soldier beheading plot and failing to disclose it to the
authorities.
Iqbal, 30, and Mahmood also deny engaging in conduct with the
intention of assisting in the commission of acts of terrorism.
The hearing continues.
GUARDIAN
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Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am under