Terror accused tells court he hoped to ‘sabotage’ gun attack plot

Walid Saadaoui, 38, was arrested on in the car park of the Last Drop Hotel in Bromley Cross last year with a car full of assault rifles, Preston Crown Court heard.

Prosecutors say he hoped to target a mass gathering of Jewish in North Manchester and Prestwich when he unknowingly laid bare his scheme to an undercover operative.

Giving evidence at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday, Saadaoui said he was “genuinely convinced” the operative, known as Farouk, was a member of the so-called Islamic State.

He claimed he was “playing a role” to appear as like-minded.

The trial opened at Preston Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

The defendant said he moved to Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, in 2012 with his first wife, Jane, who he met in Tunisia.

He said he worked in a local holiday park before he saved up to buy an Italian restaurant in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, six years later.

In 2017 Sadaaoui said he met a Syrian man outside a mosque in Norwich and later gave him £120 towards a flight home to see his family.

Saadaoui told jurors: “If someone needs help, I would help them out. We are brought up like that. It’s our culture.”

He said he “felt sorry” for the Syrian, known as Person A, when he messaged him from overseas to say he needed cash to smuggle his wife and children to safety in Syria.

More cash was transferred to Person A when he claimed he was injured and needed to get to hospital, said the defendant.

Person A later wrote: “I am one of the mujahideen. I have got your name on record. You sent me money.

“If you don’t answer I will report you to the police. Once they know who you sent money to, you are finished.”

Person A visited Saadaoui’s Albatross restaurant in Great Yarmouth in 2019 where he said he handed over £3,000 as part of an “Islamic tax”.

The demands for money continued, he said, as Person A “made it clear” he would cut off his head if he did not pay up.

Saadaoui said Person A had also told him to join a private messenger chat group and to open various Facebook accounts where he would “copy and paste” content sent to him.

Sadaaoui said he did not read the content.

Among the posts, the court was told, were those that glorified the 2015 Islamic State gun attacks in Paris.

Asked by his barrister Felicity Gerry KC how he felt about the Paris atrocity, he said: “It’s horrible. I disagree with killing innocent people.”

Saadaoui said he “ran away” from his business in Norfolk with his new wife, Michelle, and their children in the summer of 2023 to evade Person A and start a new life in Wigan near his siblings.

He planned to start up a beekeeping business but weeks later Person A tracked him down, he said.

When Farouk first contacted him online in December 2023, the defendant said he believed it was “a test” by Person A.

Ms Gerry said: “Did you have any inkling that Farouk was an undercover operative?”

“No,” said Saadaoui.

Ms Gerry said: “Who did you think he was?”

Saadaoui said: “A terrorist that communicates to Person A behind my back, and they were both testing me.”

During their interactions, he said Farouk was “doing everything… hiring cars, travelling all over Europe, arranging for the supply of firearms, contacting the middle men, taking the risks”.

Saadaoui told the jury: “My job is just to talk and convince him I’m the man for this job.”

He said he believed the purpose of bringing firearms into the UK was to carry out a terrorist attack.

On May 8 last year he was arrested by counter-terrorism officers at a hotel car park in Bromley Cross as he approached the open boot of a car.

The car was holding two assault rifles, a semi-automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition.

Saadaoui said he had planned to “cut up” the firearms with an angle grinder and then set up a meeting with Person A, Farouk and others in the chat before he called the police to arrest them.

Ms Gerry said: “Was your intention to sabotage their plans?”

Saadaoui said: “Yes.”

He said he feared for years he would be “kidnapped and murdered” by Person A and “never had the courage to tell the police until it was too late”.

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The defendant, who has no previous convictions, added: “I think I have learnt that people usually take full advantage of my kindness.

“I don’t know when to say no to people and they think I’m a pushover.

“That’s how I got into this situation in the first place.”

Saadaoui, of Abram, and his co-defendant Amar Hussein, 52, of no fixed address, deny preparing acts of terrorism between December 13, 2023 and May 9, 2024.

Saadaoui’s brother Bilel Saadaoui, 36, of Hindley has pleaded not guilty to failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism in the same period.

Walid Saadaoui is expected be cross-examined by the prosecution on Thursday.

Source – INDIA TV