A barber store proprietor who despatched 1000’s of kilos to Islamic State (IS) fighters in Syria after claiming COVID grant funds has been jailed for 12 years.
Tarek Namouz, 43, from Hammersmith in west London, had obtained the bounce again loans to assist his enterprise, Boss Crew Barbers, in the course of the pandemic.
He had been earlier discovered responsible at Kingston Crown Court of eight counts of funding terrorism and two counts of possessing info more likely to be helpful for terrorism.
After Judge Peter Lodder KC handed down the sentence on Thursday, additionally at Kingston Crown Court, which included an additional yr on prolonged licence, Namouz expressed his because of the decide however shouted “May Allah destroy you” at officers.
He had been accused of sending cash – supposed to fund a militia in Syria – on dates between November 2020 and April 2021, the courtroom heard.
Officers recognized seven transfers with a complete of about £11,280.
While on remand, he was recorded telling somebody visiting him in jail he had despatched round £25,000, the courtroom was instructed.
He had beforehand been launched from jail early after serving half of a 10-year jail sentence for rape for attacking a lady half his age in north London pub, The Prince, the place he was the owner.
When police raided the barber’s store in Blythe Road, Olympia, on 25 May 2021, prosecutors say they discovered money and a hidden cell phone containing messages to a person named Yahya Ahmed Alia in Syria, an IS bomb-making video and a video displaying the best way to kill with a knife.
Namouz lived in a third-floor flat above the store.
Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s counter terrorism command, mentioned: “Terrorist groups rely on funding to carry out their activities and to continue to operate.
“People like Namouz who present cash to terrorist teams – each within the UK and abroad – are enabling others to go and commit severe and lethal assaults, and we’ll all the time pursue and examine these individuals and search to carry them to justice.”
Judge Peter Lodder KC mentioned Namouz had demonstrated a “commitment to terrorism” and deliberate to “re-establish a state run in accordance with extreme Islamic principles”.
“In 2020 and 2021 you ran a barber’s shop in Hammersmith,” he mentioned. “You were entitled to Covid bounce back loans which were paid to you by the local council.
“You despatched that cash, and different cash, by means of a west London switch and forex trade, to terrorists in Syria.”
Namouz denied knowing the money would be used for terrorism, telling police he sent the funds to “assist… the poor and needy in Syria”.
But analysis of one of Namouz’s phones showed he was in regular contact with individuals in Syria, and talked about buying a building for “storing weapons”, such as Kalashnikovs, heavy machine guns and explosives, and occupying it with “IS fighters”.
In messages to Alia, Namouz mentioned he needed to “burn Christianity” and have “incinerators like Hitler,” including: “A lesson from history. No negotiation, no surrender, we will give them body parts, pure mincemeat.
“All the banks’ cash, we’ll purchase arms and manufacturing. Banks’ cash is halal [permitted] for us. Banks’ cash is to purchase combating instruments.
“Today we have money but you never know what will happen tomorrow. If something happens to me, you will have a fortune to work with and you can sell it and manage well in my absence.”
Source: information.sky.com”