A delivery driver from Luton, England has been found guilty of preparing to carry out terror attacks on U.S. troops at a Royal Air Force base in Suffolk, UK.
Islamic State supporter Junead Khan, 25, was found guilty of preparing terrorist acts at Kingston Crown Court in London on Friday, after a six-week trial.
At his trial, prosecutors said he used his job with a pharmaceutical company as a cover to “scout out” air force bases, including U.S. Air Force’s RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.
Police said he planned to stage a car crash, attack U.S. military troops with a knife and then commit suicide by blowing himself up.
After Khan was arrested in July, police found pictures on his phone of him posing with an Islamic State-style black flag which they later found in the attic.
His computer was also found to contain an al-Qaida bomb manual and Amazon searches for a large combat knife.
He also exchanged online messages with an Islamic State fighter in Syria calling himself Abu Hussain; describing attacking military personnel after faking a road traffic accident.
Khan was also convicted of preparing to go to Syria to join Islamic State. His 23-year-old uncle, Shazib Khan, was convicted of the same offense.
“He posed a real risk to public safety,” Commander Dean Haydon, of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said.
“He’d undertaken research and planning to make a pressure cooker bomb,” he added.
Some of the evidence used to convict Khan and his uncle cannot be revealed for legal reasons.
Luton delivery driver Junead Khan guilty of planning terror attack on US military personnel in UK https://t.co/NqSSdWZqGL
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) April 1, 2016
Man accused of Islamist plot to attack military personnel in UK: Delivery driver Junead Khan from Luton was pl… https://t.co/vuCoWDFWb7
— Home Affairs Stories (@HAStories) February 16, 2016
Plot caused cancellation of #July4th events at US airbases in UK in 2015. Junead Khan planned to kill US serviceman & detonate suicide bomb.
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) April 1, 2016
(Image: AP)
