Six due in court after anti-terror raids

Six men are to appear in court in the UK today after an anti-terror operation targeting an alleged network of terrorist recruiters.

They were held after a series of raids across London overnight on September 1, including at a Chinese restaurant in the Borough area of the city.

The operation has also involved anti-terror officers searching an Islamic school in East Sussex.

Muhammad Al-Figari (aged 42), Atilla Ahmet (aged 42), Kadar Ahmed (aged 19), Moussa Brown (aged 40), Saloum Joh (aged 21) and a 17-year-old youth who cannot be named for legal reasons will all appear at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning.

Another two men remain in custody, Scotland Yard said.

Muhammad Al-Figari, from Tottenham, Kadar Ahmed, from Plaistow, and the 17-year-old, from south-east London, are all charged with allegedly receiving weapons training for use in “the commission or preparation of terrorist acts”.

They are all charged with going to woodland near Matley Wood Caravan and Camping Site in Lyndhust, Hampshire, between June 2 and June 4 this year for a training session.

It is claimed they also went to Pondwood Farm in White Waltham, Berkshire, on June 18 for more weapons training.

Ahmed and the 17-year-old face a third charge for weapons training contrary to anti-terrorism legislation, relating to an alleged session at the Berkshire farm between April 28 and May 1.

Al-Figari and the 17-year-old face a further charge, contrary to Section 58(1)(b) of the Terrorism Act 2000, which alleges that on September 1 they each possessed a record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism.

Atilla Ahmet, from south-east London, allegedly solicited people to murder those who do not believe in Islam.

The first charge claims he went to a meeting on March 24 to encourage others to murder people who do not believe in the Islamic faith, contrary to Section 4 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.

It is claimed he then went to another meeting between March 31 and April 1 to encourage the murder of those who “do not implement Allah’s law”.

Another two charges under the Offences Against the Person Act allege he went to two further meetings, one in April and another in June, to commit the same offence.

He is also charged under Section 1(2) of the Terrorism Act 2006 for publishing statements on April 21 or 22 and on June 9 intending to encourage members of the public to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism.

Two further charges under the Terrorism Act 2000 claim Ahmet possessed a record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing an act of terrorism on September 1.

Moussa Brown, from Walthamstow, allegedly trained people how to make or use firearms contrary to Section 54 (1) of the Terrorism Act 2000 between May 2004 and March 2005.

He is also charged under the same act with receiving instruction or training in the making or use of firearms during the same period.

Saloum Joh, from south-west London, is charged under the Firearms Act 1968 for possessing a prohibited firearm on September 1 this year.

The weapon was allegedly a point 410 shotgun with a barrel less than 30 centimetres long.

The school being searched by anti-terror officers in connection with the investigation faces imminent closure with inspectors due to decide its fate by the end of the year.

Police have been searching the independent Jameah Islamiyah Secondary School in Mark Cross, near Crowborough, East Sussex, since the beginning of the month.

It later emerged that an Ofsted inspection last year identified a number of failings in the standards of education at the Islamic school.

Ofsted inspectors found it failed to provide a satisfactory education for its pupils and had significant weaknesses.

The British Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has said an initial action plan was rejected as it did not fully address the school’s problems.

A formal notice was served in June for it to supply a final action plan to improve itself or face closure, and this was received on July 27.

The DfES said Ofsted inspectors would return to the school this term to examine whether it has improved. If it fails to satisfy the inspectors it will be withdrawn from the Register of Independent Schools and shut down.

Meanwhile, the activities of the school are being examined by the Charity Commission.

The school was registered as a charity in May 1994, and is said to teach “basic and higher” Islamic studies, provide further education for qualified Islamic teachers and promote the Islamic faith.

According to its Ofsted report last December, the school, set within 54 acres of East Sussex countryside, had only nine boys on its roll, aged from 12 to 15.