Britain: A Hotbed and Haven for Islamic Terrorism

May 19, 2003
by Gordon Thomas

Five more radical British Muslim terrorists are poised to strike as suicide bombers against Israel.

Mossad has linked them to Richard Reid, the convicted shoe bomber, and Zacharias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hi-jacker of the September 11 attacks on Amercia.

Both were recruited by fundamentalist groups operating in London.

It is the latest evidence Britain has become the headquarters of choice for extremist Islamic preachers, who now have a network of organisations dedicated to sowing pure hatred: hatred of the West and the values of tolerance and freedom - the very values which give them the freedom to operate in Britain.

Yet, until now, successive British governments, despite being warned in the plainest of terms, have done little to deal with the threat of the enemy within.

Britain continues to give refuge to a host of Islamic fundamentalists wanted for terrorism in countries around the world. Before the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center in 2001, the governments of France, Turkey, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia had all lodged protests over Britain's protection and refusal to extradite known terrorists. These protests had no effect.

Men like Abu Qutadur - who instructed both Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, and Zacharias Moussaoui, now finally awaiting trial in the United States for his part in planning the September 11 attacks, were allowed to remain in Britain preaching and often organising terrorism.

Both men had claimed to extradite them would lead to their "political persecution". They were able to hire expensive lawyers to fight their extradition. Legal manoeuvres tied up their extradition for years: Khalid al Fawwaz, wanted in the US for his alleged part in the bombing of the American embassy in Kenya, has used the UK courts for the past four years to ensure he stays in Britain. The cost of Stg£428,000 has been funded by the British taxpayers.

Britain does have supposedly "draconian" Anti-Terrorism laws. But as one senior Mossad source told me: "London is a paradise for terrorists. They can plan terror attacks there to take place outside the country. They can call for murder and spread the doctrine of terrorism, knowing they can live quite happily in Britain. It is every terrorist's dream, to be able to live in a democracy and be able to destroy what the world means.

It should not be forgotten that in the 1990s, Stella Rimmington, when she was head of MI5, Britain's internal intelligence agency - equal to the FBI - was so certain that Muslim terrorism was no threat that she ordered her service to reduce its ability to track Islamic fundamentalist activity.

Even after September 11, the British government took the view that Islamic terrorism mostly affected Israel and so Britain could continue to ignore it.

One reason for this was the fear of offending the 1.8 million Muslims living in Britain - and disrupting Britain's strong trading ties with Arab nations.

The result was that extreme fundamentalist groups flourished.

One such group is Al Muhajarin - in many ways more extreme than even Al Quaeda. It operates deep inside the closed Muslim world of Britain.

In the past two years, the group's followers have been recruited to go to the Middle East to fight a holy war alongside Osama bin Laden's Al Quaeda organisation. In the wake of the Iraq war, some have now returned to Britain, melting into their Muslim communities where Al Muhajarin holds away.

MI5 now fears those who have returned could be ready to launch their own suicide attacks on synagogues and Jewish owned banks and stores in Britain.

The leader of Al Muhajarin is Omar Bakri. He has boasted his followers "have drawn a divine road map, one which is drawn in blood. We pray to God to accept them as martyrs".

MI5 agents have recently accumulated a library of tape recordings which show how Bakri has radicalised young Muslims with his inflammatory propaganda - and praising those who have fought alongside Al Quaeda.

"He is clever. He knows how to stay on the right side of the law", an MI5 officer told me. "We have little doubt the five Britons the Israelis are hunting for were fired up by Bakri Mohammed", he added.

It is known that a group recruiter radicalised the two Muslim suicide bombers who struck last week in Israel.

Omar Khan Sharif and Asif Mohammed Hanif attacked a seafront café in Tel Aviv, killing three people and wounding another 50, were carrying British passports.

A senior Israeli intelligence officer told me that the "deadly five" they are hunting used genuine British passports to travel to Paris and Frankfurt. There they met one of the recruiters for Al Muhajarin and were given false passports.

Mossad technicians at its Teud Department - the specialist unit that deals with forged documents - believe the passports were originally stolen from British tourists in the Mediterranean and then doctored by the Syrian intelligence service.

It is regarded as the most efficient of all the Arab security services. MI5 has now determined that Syrian intelligence has recently established contact with Al Muhajarin.

Hamas is headquartered in Syrian's capital, along with other terror organisations. Although Britain's Home Office banned Hamas, along with more than 20 other terrorist groups, support for them flourishes in Britain's Muslim community. Hamas, for instance, has fundraising, charitable and welfare organisations. They have shares - using respectable front names - in hotels and health spas across Britain.

Mossad has identified no fewer than a dozen "key members" of the British Muslim community who are suspected to having links to terrorists.

Meantime, MI5 are also hunting an Al Quaeda terrorist with a £5 million slush fund to buy British passports for fanatical young British Muslims to become suicide bombers.

Details of the fund have emerged following the arrest of six Britons in London suspected of being involved in the Tel Aviv suicide bombing.

MI5 believe that since the September 11 attacks on America, over 400 fanatical self-styled "freedom fighters" have gone to the Middle East from Britain on false passports from the Passport Agency.

Security service agents are urgently checking Agency staff bank accounts to see if they have lodged unusual payments in the past two years.

A similar investigation is going on into the theft three months ago of millions of birth, marriage and death certificates from Bristol's Central Library. The documents are the key to providing terrorists with new identities.

An MI5 source said: "With that £5 million slush fund, thousands of terrorists could receive British passports that would allow them to come and go as they wish. Until now a British passport has rarely been challenged by other countries. But after last week's attack in Israel, we have alerted every country to be on the look-out".

Two-man teams of security agents, backed by local police are combing the East Midlands for the Al Quaeda slush fund.

The money is thought to have been smuggled into the country during the last two years - possibly in diplomatic pouches from Middle East countries.

MI5 are trying to establish whether some of the money was paid to the families of the two British-born suicide bombers in Israel last week.

Such payments are common in Israel to relatives of successful suicide bombers.

Meantime hardmen of Mossad, Israel's secret intelligence service, have been allowed to station ten of its top agents in Britain to track young Muslims recruited as suicide bombers by Islamic fundamentalist groups.

The Mossad squad includes two members of its famed kidon unit - specialists in assassinations.

Their deployment is the first time since 1987 that Mossad agents have operated in such numbers in this country.

That year, the Thatcher government ordered their operations to be shut down after the "honey trap" plot to kidnap Mordechai Vananu, the whistleblower who revealed secrets about Israel's nuclear arsenal. He is now serving a life sentence in Israel.

The decision to allow Mossad to operate in Britain follows high-level talks over the weekend between Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of MI5, and Meir Dagan, Mossad's chief in Tel Aviv.

Downing Street were informed that Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon had instructed Mossad to step up its activities in Britain to prevent more British Muslim suicide attacks on Israel.

Yesterday (Monday), the Mossad agents were deployed in the East Midlands and London.

The agents have been sent from Mossad's headquarters in Brussels - and from its key listening posts in the Middle East.

They have come with a "shopping list" of Muslim radicals they believe are ready to strike at any Israeli target - including synagogues and shops in this country.

A former Mossad director of operations, Rafi Eitan, who has worked secretly in Britain said: "There has always been a love-hate relationship with British intelligence. This is because of our concern about the liberal attitude of successive British governments towards Islamic fundamentalist groups. But after last week's suicide bombing, Israel has been assured that is over".

The Mossad team will operate on their own. They have brought with them telephone bugging specialists. But their prime task will be to tail suspects and recruit informers.

"And, just as they have done before, they will deal with any threat as forcefully as they always do", said a Mossad source in Tel Aviv.

"That is why the kidon are there. They can make an assassination look like an accident".

ends
Gordon Thomas is the author of Mossad: La Historia Secreta (Ediciones-B)