Two men were convicted of planning an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting against Jews in the Manchester area, a plot police say could have become Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack if not for an undercover operation that exposed it.
A jury at Preston Crown Court found Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, guilty of preparing acts of terrorism between December 2023 and May 2024. Prosecutors said the pair intended to attack a mass gathering and then move on to north Manchester to kill more Jewish people, though no specific date or final target was set.
- Advertisement -
The scheme unraveled after Saadaoui, the main instigator, laid out his plans to an undercover operative known in court as “Farouk.” Saadaoui believed he had arranged to import four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition into the UK. On May 8, 2024 — the anticipated “strike day” — counterterrorism officers arrested him in a hotel car park in Bolton as he went to collect what he thought were live firearms. The weapons had been deactivated. More than 200 officers were involved in the operation.
Saadaoui, a father of two originally from Tunisia, came to the attention of authorities after using 10 Facebook accounts under false names to propagate extremist views. Investigators said he joined the Facebook group of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester, which had shared details of a large “March Against Anti-Semitism” in the city center on Jan. 21, 2024. Thousands attended that event.
Days later, in messages to Farouk, Saadaoui expressed a desire to target Manchester’s Jewish community and “hit them where it hurts,” the court heard. He idolized Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Islamic State terrorist who orchestrated the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.
Hussein, a Kuwaiti national who worked and lived at a furniture shop in Bolton, was recruited to assist. In March 2024, the two traveled to Dover, Kent, to conduct hostile reconnaissance on the port with the aim of smuggling a weapon through undetected, prosecutors said. Saadaoui later visited Prestwich and Higher Broughton in north Manchester to survey Jewish nurseries, schools, synagogues and shops. The men arranged a safe house in Bolton to store the firearms and returned to Dover in May believing they were watching the weapons enter the country.
Saadaoui told the court he did not hold an extreme ideology and claimed he was merely “playing along” with the operative, intending to sabotage the scheme by destroying the firearms and alerting authorities. Hussein denied involvement in any plot, describing the undercover officer’s account as “fantasy.” His lawyer said Hussein held firm views on the Gaza conflict but that did not make him a terrorist. Jurors rejected those arguments.
Saadaoui’s brother, Bilel, 36, of Hindley, Wigan, was convicted of failing to disclose information about the plan.
Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts of Greater Manchester Police said the weaponry and ammunition involved could have enabled “the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history,” had the plot succeeded. “Some of the things he said made it very clear that he regarded a less sophisticated attack with less lethal weaponry as not being good enough as he saw it was his duty to kill as many Jewish people as he could,” Potts said. He added that there was “very real risk and danger” for the undercover operative, whose “courage, bravery and professionalism” he praised.
Greater Manchester Police released a handout photo dated May 2024 showing Hussein and Saadaoui in Dover during the reconnaissance phase.
Authorities did not immediately disclose a sentencing date.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
