Man who planned to attack Pride in London found guilty of terror offences
Mohiussunnath Chowdhury will be sentenced on March 13
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
A man who planned to attack Pride in London has been found guilty of terror offences.
Former Uber driver, Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 28, appeared in Woolwich Crown Court on Monday (February 10) where a jury found him guilty of terror offences after he planned to target tourist hotspots across London as well as the annual Pride in London parade.
The court heard that he had vented about ‘homos’ and had planned to ‘unleash death and suffering on non-Muslim members of the public’, the BBC reported.
He reportedly began training for fights and bought knives and training swords and looked for firearms training as well as researching how to buy a gun.
Luckily his plans were uncovered by police officers who had kept him under surveillance following the 2017 incident outside Buckingham Palace where he drove a car through bollards and started a violent altercation with police.
He managed to escape a prison sentence following the incident as a jury believed his actions were an attempt at ‘suicide by cop’.
In recordings heard in court, Chowdhury believed it was ‘halal permitted’ for jihadis to target gay people and decided to target Pride in London parade ruling out Remembrance Sunday commemorations.
Chowdury reflected: “The security for other events is piss-poor like the gay parades they have.
“Thousands of homos marching and waving their flags. The way they march they are asking to get hit by some jihadist.”
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told the court: “The object was to unleash death and suffering on non-Muslim members of the public who happened to be present, using a firearm, sword and even a van, as part of an attack… he was unquestionably preparing for terrorism in 2019.”
Chowdhury was arrested just days before the annual Pride ceremony in July 2019.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said: “In counter terrorism, we constantly balance the risk dangerous individuals pose to the public with the need to gather evidence strong enough to secure a conviction and ensure they are locked up.
“Mohuissunnath Chowdhury was determined to kill innocent people but we arrested him at the right time, having been able to gather sufficient evidence of his plans.”
Chowdhury was found guilty of preparation of acts of terrorism, dissemination of a terrorist publication and possession of information useful to terrorism.
His sister, Sneha Chowdhury, was also convicted on one count of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism but cleared of a second count of the same charge.
Smith continued: “There is no acceptable reason for listening to someone say they are planning to kill innocent people, and watching them practise how they will do that, then not reporting it to police.
“Sneha Chowdhury wilfully kept her brother’s horrific secret and is now facing the consequences.”
Mohuissunnath Chowdhury will be sentenced on March 13, while his sister will be sentenced at a late date.