Hamza relative held over 'burka jail smuggling'

The daughter-in-law of hate preacher Abu Hamza was arrested after reportedly trying to smuggle a sim card into his high-security jail under her burka.

Chayme Hamza, 26, was arrested after guards at Belmarsh prison in Woolwich, south east London, where the radical cleric is fighting extradition to the United States, found the item during a routine search last Friday.

Hamza’s son Mohamed Kamel Mostafa, 29, was also arrested over the same incident the following day after attending a police station voluntarily, it is understood.

The sim card was found in a pocket in clothing under her burka, according to The Sun.

The pair have been bailed until February pending further inquiries, Scotland Yard said.

Hamza, 52, was jailed for seven years in February 2006 for inciting murder and race hate.

He is challenging attempts to extradite him to the US on terror charges.

That case was delayed in July by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which called for further submissions over the length of his sentence and the conditions he would experience if extradited to ADX Florence, a so-called “supermax” prison in Fremont County, Colorado.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said police were called over the woman visitor to Belmarsh at about 3.45pm last Friday.

“Officers attended and a 26-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of bringing a prohibited article into a prison, contrary to the Prison Act 1952,” he said.

“On December 18, a 29-year-old man voluntarily attended a south London police station and was arrested on suspicion of bringing a prohibited article into a prison, contrary to the Prison Act 1952.”

A Prison Service spokesman said: “During a routine search on Friday December 17, a visitor entering HMP Belmarsh was found to be in possession of a prohibited article. Prison officers confiscated the item and contacted the police.

“This is now a matter for the police.”