How many more young men like Kazi Islam are in Britain today? What is being done — by anyone — to disabuse them of their religious ideas, which give rise to their plotting in this way? Where will these young men be in ten years? Where will Britain be?
“Pictured: Teenage Islamic terrorist who pestered girls for sex while plotting Lee Rigby-style attack on British soldier,” by Duncan Gardham and Darren Boyle, MailOnline, April 29, 2015:
A Muslim extremist has been found guilty of trying to mastermind a Lee Rigby-style terror plot by grooming a ‘vulnerable’ former schoolmate while at the same time sending sexually explicit text messages to young women.
Kazi Islam, from Manor Park, east London sent messages to Harry Thomas, 19, praising Lee Rigby’s killers and encouraging him to buy a knife to attack soldiers as well as the ingredients to make an explosive device.
The court heard that Islam, 18, tried to coerce his friend to buy parts for a pipe bomb including fireworks, hydrogen peroxide, pipes, metal end caps and glue.
At the same time as trying to groom Mr Thomas, Islam was sending highly explicit messages over Blackberry messenger to girls he barely knew, it can be disclosed.
Islam, now 18, is said to have ‘ruthlessly exploited’ his former classmate Mr Thomas, 19, who had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and suffered from Asperger’s syndrome.
When referring to the bomb components, Islam described them as ‘cake’, although Mr Thomas misunderstood and asked whether he was talking about the ‘b o m b’.
Mr Thomas was not charged with any offence.
Thomas was said to be a ‘vulnerable and impressionable young man’ who had few friends and was desperate to please Islam.
On December 20 2013, Islam messaged Thomas: ‘When I give the order, I want you to kill a soldier…2 soldiers…Not yet though.’
During the same period, Islam also sent a message to a number of young women that it was ‘National Shagging Day’ and sent one girl a highly explicit message about a sex act, adding, when she turned him down: ‘OK you won’t get pregnant though.’
As he continued a conversation about buying bomb-making chemicals with Thomas, Islam sent another young woman an explicit message about another sex act.
On December 23, Islam was talking to Thomas about buying components for a pipe bomb and messaging another girl about sex with her, referring to his ‘sausage.’
Islam left school with no GCSEs and was under the same ‘additional learning support assistant’ as Thomas at Barking and Dagenham College in East London.
While studying for a BTEC diploma level 1 in information technology, Islam showed the assistant a video of an attack on an army truck by a Muslim suicide bomber.
After leaving college he lived next door to his parents in Manor Park, East London and went to work for a sports memorabilia company called Winning Moves in Paddington, West London,
But he also started attending meetings held by former members of the extremist group al-Muhajiroun and a fundamentalist group called Hizb ut-Tahrir, and to try and leave the country for Syria.
Islam began exploiting Thomas’s vulnerability in October 2013 when Thomas messaged him to say his girlfriend had ‘dumped’ him.
While pretending to sympathise and chatting about girls, Islam “took the opportunity to quickly twist the conversation towards religion,” Miss Darlow said.
Over many months, Islam ‘carefully groomed’ Thomas, flattering him when he appeared willing to do his bidding and bullying, threatening and nagging him when he ‘didn’t seem to be dancing to Islam’s tune’ Annabel Darlow QC told the Old Bailey.
Thomas was a vulnerable, lonely and ‘not particularly bright’ young man who was desperate to impress Islam and to try to forge some sort of friendship with him, Miss Darlow said.
‘Islam ruthlessly exploited to the utmost Thomas’s vulnerability and obvious wish to try and ingratiate himself with Islam,’ she added.
‘You may think that Mr Islam is a hardened, ruthless and manipulative individual, old beyond his years, who has an uncanny ability to sniff out and make use of the vulnerable in society for his own interests.’…