al-Qaeda terror secret of £500k home in leafy Hazel Grove

Residents on an affluent suburban street have spoken of their shock after a neighbour admitted accessing a catalogue of terrorism information on a computer.

Umer Farooq pleaded guilty to 14 counts of possession of material that could be useful to a terrorist at a hearing at the Old Bailey in London.

Anti-terror police found he had been accessing material which included an al-Qaeda magazine and details of how to make explosives, poisons and lethal mines.

Unemployed Farooq, 34, who is single and has no children, had been lodging with family members in their £500,000 house on leafy Bramhall Moor Lane, Hazel Grove, for around three years.

Neighbours were stunned to see the property raided by police in April. Eyewitnesses saw computers and books being taken from the detached house – but said they still had no idea the swoop was terrorism-related.

Near-neighbour Jessie Pipe, 32, said residents were stunned to learn of the case yesterday

She said: “You don’t expect it anywhere – but I really wouldn't expect it here. It is such a quiet family area.

“It is quite unnerving to think that was going on just across the way. The police came round and I knew it was serious because there were so many officers and vans.”

Another neighbour, 65-year-old Margaret Jones, said: “It is something you think happens in other places, but this time it is right on our doorstep.”

Farooq was arrested by detectives from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit at Heathrow Airport on June 1.

Officers had intelligence to suggest that he was about to board a plane to Pakistan.

Police said they had received intelligence about websites he was accessing and had monitored his computer activity, tracing material to him.

The material included copies of Inspire, an English language online magazine reported to be published by al-Qaeda.

Also found was the Terrorist Handbook Of Explosives, documents relating to ‘homemade C4’, ‘guns with silencers’, ‘home-built mines’ and ‘silent killing’.

One computer file contained information about the collection of evidence at crime scenes, while another bore the title ‘Black medicine: The dark art of death’, the court was told.

The offences occurred between September 2011 and June this year.

Farooq, who appeared in court via a video link from Belmarsh high-security prison in London, admitted charges of possessing documents containing details ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.

Police confirmed that he is believed to have been acting alone, with no links to other individuals or terrorism plans.
Farooq will be sentenced on November 16.
Source http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1592865_al-qaeda-terror-secret-of-500k-home-in-leafy-hazel-grove