UK: Man convicted of plotting to kill police and MPs

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

A British man who was arrested with knives near the British Parliament last year has been convicted by the Old Bailey of plotting to kill police and MPs.

Khalid Ali, 28, was arrested on suspicion of terrorism when he was stopped while carrying three knives in White Hall, meters away from the Parliament’s main gate.

An investigation into the incident found out later that Ali had spent around five years in Taliban training camps in Afghanistan and was trained as a bomb-maker before returning to the U.K. in 2016.

A mobile phone thrown by Ali into River Thames and later recovered by British intelligence officers showed a history of Google Street View searches on the MI6 building. Photos of police officers were also found on the phone.

“He [Ali] left the U.K. and ended up in Afghanistan, in a Taliban training camp affiliated to al-Qaeda, where for several years he helped terrorists make hundreds of bombs capable of mass murder,” Dean Haydon, a senior counter-terrorism coordinator from Scotland Yard said.

The investigation also found that Ali’s fingerprints matched with those on various bomb components gathered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

“When he was arrested and interviewed, he [Ali] boasted to officers initially that he had built about 300 different bombs,” Haydon said.

“I’m in no doubt those bombs were used against coalition forces and to kill, maim and injure coalition forces,” he added.

Ali was convicted on “two counts of possessing an explosive substance in relation to his activities in Afghanistan” and “one count of preparing terrorist acts in relation to his plans in Westminster".

“Ali was an incredibly dangerous individual who had returned from a training camp in Afghanistan with a determination to kill police officers, the military or parliamentarians here in the U.K.,” Haydon added.

Ali’s arrest came approximately a month after the deadly terrorist attack in London’s Westminster Bridge on March 22, 2017.

Khalid Masood had killed pedestrians on the bridge when he mowed them down, before stabbing a police officer who was on duty in front of the parliament.

Terrorist organization Daesh claimed the attack.