A husband and wife have been found guilty of plotting a major terror attack in the capital – with the borough’s Westfield shopping centre a potential target.
Would-be suicide bomber Mohammed Rehman, 25, and his wife Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, were found guilty at the Old Bailey today of planning an attack in London to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the July 7 bombings.
Going by the name Silent Bomber, Islamic extremist Mohammed Rehman, 25, took to Twitter in May asking for suggestions on which target to choose, a Westfield shopping centre – one of which is in Stratford – or the Tube.
With money from his wife Sana Ahmed Khan, 24, he bought chemicals needed to make a huge bomb from eBay and stockpiled them at his family home in Reading – and even filmed himself setting off a small explosion in his back garden.
The prosecution said Rehman was just days away from completing the device which would have caused multiple casualties in the capital if he had not been stopped by anti-terror police.
The duo was arrested on May 28 – just over a month before the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in which 52 Londoners were murdered.
Rehman was also convicted of possessing an article for terrorist purposes.
Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC had said the pair shared a “common interest” in violent and extreme Islamic ideology and had repeatedly researched the 7/7 bombers.
They also had a keen interest in Islamic State, and Rehman’s online research showed he approved and “wished to play his own part”.
Counter-terrorism officers foiled the plot after an undercover investigator spotted Rehman’s tweet about potential targets.
The couple will be sentenced tomorrow.
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