Posted on 02/09/2006 5:41:15 AM PST by Carl/NewsMax
A radical British imam was stockpiling protection gear for a weapons of mass destruction attack in a notorious North London mosque, British police revealed on Wednesday.
London authorities told Reuters that the discovery of the WMD-gear actually happened in 2003, but could not be disclosed until Tuesday, after Abu Hamza al Masri was convicted of 11 charges related to terrorism - including soliciting murder and possessing a terrorist training manual.
Hamza preached jihad at the notorious Finsbury Park mosque, where convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid and alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui both worshipped.
According to Reuters, 150 police staged a dramatic raid on Hamza's mosque in Jan. 2003. Once inside, they discovered gas masks, chemical, biological and nuclear protective suits, blank passports, hunting knives, and blank-firing weapons, the news agency said.
"The suspicion of the anti-terrorist branch was that this was probably material used in training camps in the UK," a London police source told Reuters.
"We've never been able to pinpoint their locations, who was running them or what sort of activities that were going on, but that is the conclusion," he added.
The enemy within.
Now it's against the law in the UK to prepare for a Doomsday scenario. Brits should be concerned.
"The suspicion of the anti-terrorist branch was that this was probably material used in training camps in the UK," a London police source told Reuters."We've never been able to pinpoint their locations, who was running them or what sort of activities that were going on, but that is the conclusion," he added.
Were the Hook and his cohorts just allowed to run free around London and the English countryside, with no shadows permanently assigned to keep tabs on them? Unbelievable.
No,he had been under constant surveillance since 1999.
Its not against the law, its just the tabloid making the article more exciting than it is.
And the NBC suits in question were not sealed but ones that can be bought in Army Kit shops, they have been laundered and are useless as all the charcoal has been washed away.
They are mainly sold for fashion.
Its just the article reads better with the WMD slant
but Islam is a religion of peace
Reported elsewhere as 'desecration of a Holy Place'?????
Then why don't they know where the training camps are? That's odd...
Everyone is asking this question but there are Strong valid reasons why it took time to monitor him gather evidence in fact set up tabs on the Muslim community as a whole.
1) we needed to switch resources.
2) we need to recruit new assets, A deep cover asset in a Irish cultural environment would not assimilate into a Islamic/Asian one.
During the First Gulf War we had reams of Intelligence pouring in no problem in Intelligence gathering the problem was collating and analysing that intelligence.
Our Intelligence analysts were highly trained highly experienced in analysing intelligence from 1)The former Warsaw Pact.
2)From Irish nationalists and Loyalist circles.
3) Animal Rights extremists.
4) Trade Unions this was a hangover from the strikes of the 80s.
5) Arab intelligence agencies who operated over here were more concerned with hunting down there own dissidents than foment Islamic unrest On the whole the Muslim community was not very active, and most Islamic groups were what we call leaderless groups no rigid form of command and control.
So Conclusion was.
1) we needed to develop assets. 2) We needed to train up experts in reading and understanding Intelligence gathered.
As for the Hate Preachers, he was seen as a bumbling Walter Mitty character who could not keep his mouth shut.
As a potential Terrorist organiser he would be a menace to himself and any group.
What was not seen was that there was a level of disaffection amongst Muslim youth which he could exploit. As a loner with a chip on his shoulder he was able to influence others like him, loners and outsiders even within the Muslim community.
They are the hardest to track down.
A detailed and thoughtful response. Thanks...
They are not training camps as fixed locations set up with separate training and support staff, but more on the lines of your unauthorised militia a group would get together and go out to some remote spot such as the lake district set up camp for the weekend.
Makes a little more sense, although I do still think that if the manpower and resources had been adequate, at least the leaders of the Hook's crew could've been tailed 24/7. But I'll concede that the logistics of it might've been awfully tough...
Er... any "religious" institution storing WMD should be immediately declared an enemy of the state. They should take a page out of Ariel Sharon's book and bulldoze the fricking mosque in broad daylight.
But it won't happen.
We do, many in afghanistan and Pakistan have been shut down for good. But as the 1000's of US casualties in Iraq show - you can't find them all.
"...hunting knives and blank firing devices..." This is the best the Brits can ever hope for. At least the terrorists can't come up with suitable weapons.Thank God I won't have to defend my family with such twaddle. If push comes to shove, at least we 'Mericuns can still defend ourselves with firearms.
mosques = weapons caches
Good Lord, they were not listening in on the Mullah's phone calls too were they? / sacrasm on!
I thought it was politically incorrect to enter a mosque even to listen to what was being said. At least that is what the MSM and Democrats here imply. So shame on them.
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