Sheffield dentistry student found guilty of terror charges
His brother was a suspected suicide bomber
Last updated 13th Dec 2017
A Sheffield dentistry student whose brother was a suspected suicide bomber has been found guilty of preparing an act of terrorism in the UK.
Mohammed Awan, 24, was arrested by anti-terror police in June following raids at his Kelham Island flat and family home in Huddersfield.
The Sheffield University undergrad was found to possess a “significant volume'' of extremist material, including advice on how to be a “sleeper cell'' in the West.
A jury at Sheffield Crown Court was told how he bought a slingshot and 500 ball bearings online, then researched what injuries they could cause.
He had tried to justify the purchase by saying he was a keen angler and hunter, and planned to use the ball bearings to hunt rabbits with a catapult.
The court was told the defendant's brother, Rizwan Awan, and his partner, Sophie, had travelled from Manchester Airport to Istanbul in May 2015 to join Isis.
The brothers were then in contact with each other in August 2015, before reports emerged that Rizwan killed himself in a suicide bombing in Iraq in March 2016.
The court heard he had downloaded a terrorism manual which included headings such as Survival Techniques, Modern Weapons, Bomb Making, The Jihad Begins and Escaping for Safety.
A memory stick found in Awan's bedroom contained a 36-minute video featuring a senior al Qaida leader, who was reportedly killed in a US drone strike in 2016.
In the film, called Commander Hamzah Zinjibary's Training Camp, he called on young Muslims to join Isis and featured graphic footage of how to kill and kidnap victims.
Items recovered by counter-terror officers included 11 mobile phones, 16 memory sticks, and around 60 Sim cards, containing a host of terrorism-related material.
The jury convicted him of three counts in total, two of possession of a document or record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and one of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts or assisting others to commit such acts.
Sue Hemming, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Mohammed Awan was reading and watching extremist material that glorified terrorism and gave advice on carrying out attacks.
“He went one step further by buying a simple but potentially dangerous weapon which the CPS said he intended to use to harm innocent people.
“The prosecution's evidence against him undermined Awan's attempt to portray his actions as harmless and he will now need to serve a sentence for his behaviour.''
Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson, Head of Investigations at Counter Terrorism Policing North East said: “Awan was influenced by the material he had researched online which included numerous Daesh propaganda sites. He purchased ballbearings online and information about the use of these in attacks was contained in the material he had downloaded.
“Whilst we do not know the full details of Awan’s intentions, officers intervened swiftly before Awan could put any plans into practice. Public safety is, and always will be, our priority when making operational decisions.
“We urge the public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to the police by calling the police, in confidence, on 0800 789321 or in an emergency by dialling 999. Suspicious activity is anything that seems out of place, unusual or just doesn’t seem to fit in with day-to-day life.
“All information passed to the police through the anti-Terrorist Hotline is treated in the strictest of confidence. It is thoroughly analysed and researched by experienced officers before, and if, any police action is taken.”
Awan is due to be sentenced on December 20