An Islamic State-inspired terrorist plot that could have resulted in the deaths of hundreds within the Jewish community was foiled by British authorities, Reuters reports.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were found guilty at Preston Crown Court in Dover, England, on Friday.
The two men received life sentences for preparing acts of terrorism between December 2023 and May 2024, The Guardian reported.
The mastermind behind the plot, Tunisian-born Saadaoui, from Wigan, was given a sentence of a minimum of 37 years. Hussein, a Bolton-based Kuwaiti national, was ordered to serve at least 26 years, the report added.
Saadaoui’s younger brother Bilel Saadaoui, 37, also from Wigan, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for failing to notify authorities of the terror plan.
The two principals, who swore allegiance to ISIS, planned a marauding firearms attack targeting Greater Manchester’s Jewish community, the Guardian reported.
They planned to disguise themselves as Jews and attack a march against antisemitism in Manchester before heading to suburbs north of the city center that are home to one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities.
Their trial commenced a week after the Oct. 2 terrorist attack on Manchester‘s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation that claimed the lives of two victims.
An undercover operative led to their arrest.
Known to them as Farouk, the operative infiltrated jihadist social media networks and persuaded Saadaoui that he was a fellow Islamist, the report continued. “Farouk” supplied them with the weapons.
After mulling a lone stabbing attack for years, Saadaoui decided to carry out a more ambitious strike following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel’s south.
In the verdict, Judge Mark Wall said that “this would likely have been one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever carried out on British soil,” the Guardian reported.
“Your plan envisaged you and two others discharging AK-47s into a large crowd of marchers, who were unarmed and defenseless. One hundred and twenty bullets could have been discharged before any reloads were required. You planned to have spare magazines available. Your attack would have led to the deaths of people of all ages, including children,” Wall was cited as saying.
Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Robert Potts said after the verdicts that the plot, “given the weaponry and ammunition involved, could potentially have been the deadliest terrorist attack in U.K. history.”
