- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
A DAESH supporter planned a “lone wolf” attack on a military site using a specially-adapted drone, a court heard on Tuesday (10).
Hisham Muhammad, 25, is said to have researched how to develop drones and adapt them to drop weapons.
He had allegedly researched police and army bases that he visited before his arrest.
Muhammad, along with his cousin Faisal Ahmad, appeared in the dock on Tuesday after being arrested in June last year. The Bermuda national moved to Britain in 2013, and he used a bogus online escort agency scam to fund his activities.
He was caught after his landlord spotted suspicious items at his house.
Opening the prosecution case at the court in London, Anne Whyte QC said that Muhammad had researched and downloaded extremist material from the internet that “glorified violence and martyrdom in the name of an extreme and ultra conservative view of the Islamic faith.”
Whyte told jurors: “We allege Hisham Muhammad intended to commit an act of terrorism – he plainly considered and researched the use of a drone to drop some sort of harmful device. That, we say, was always going to present technical challenges and he combined an anticipated use of a drone with plans to use knives or other bladed items in order to stab human targets.
“Whatever his final approach to an adapted drone, by the time of his arrest, he had plainly resolved to commit some sort of knife attack instead.”
Muhammad claims he researched Daesh propaganda to find out more about the Manchester Arena bombing. He denies one count of preparing acts of terrorism.
The trial continues.
