An Islamic State member who used a James Bond-style USB cufflink to store extremist data has admitted five charges of terrorism.
Samata Ullah pleaded guilty to being a member of the terror group as well as preparing terrorist acts, terrorist training, and possessing articles for terrorist purposes.
He denied one charge of directing terrorism at the Old Bailey in London.
The court heard that when he was arrested in September last year, the 34-year-old from Cardiff had a USB cufflink with a Linux operating system hiding extremist data, including a blog.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said a hi-tech report showed Mr Ullah was trying to post the blog onto a platform in a "format that meant it could not be closed down or deleted by the authorities."
Jurors were told that between December 2015 and his arrest, he had provided instructional videos on how to secure sensitive data and use encryption software to stay anonymous online.
Commander Dean Haydon of Met Office Counter Terrorism said Ullah was "dangerous" despite operating in the "virtual world".
"He sat in his bedroom in Wales and created online content with the sole intention of aiding people who wanted to actively support ISIS and avoid getting caught by the authorities," he said.
"This is just the sort of information that may have helped people involved in planning devastating, low technical level attacks on crowded places as we have seen in other cities across the world.
Ullah, who has been diagnosed with autism since his arrest, also pleaded guilty to having a book entitled 'Guided Missiles Fundamentals AFM 52-31' and a PDF version of the book 'Advances In Missile Guidance, Control, and Estimation' for terrorist purposes.
He admitted the charges earlier this month but his pleas could not be reported until after the prosecution had decided whether to go to trial on the remaining charge.
Mr Altman explained that the attorney general had accepted the pleas but asked for the remaining charge of directing terrorism to lie on file.
In lifting reporting restrictions, Judge Gerald Gordon said the "issue of dangerousness" would have to be assessed before sentencing, which will take place on 28 April.
No comments:
Post a Comment