Operation Guava

Operation Guava[lower-alpha 1] is the code name for a long-term[lower-alpha 2] British Security Service (MI5) operation.[2] The operation tracked a terrorist cell, which planned "a significant terrorist plot."[3] The Operation Guava plotters used the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula magazine Inspire as an instruction manual for the bomb they planned to leave in a toilet stall at the London Stock Exchange.[lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4] The police code name for the investigation was Operation Norbury.[6]

Name

The book sources[7][8][4] and government reports[3][9] all refer to the case as "Operation Guava". Some contemporaneous (2010–2012) news reports refer to a "Christmas plot" or "London Stock Exchange bombing." Other press reports (2012–2019) use "Operation Guava".[2][1]

Plot

Aside from bombing the London Stock Exchange,[2] the plotters planned the establishment of a jihadist training camp in Azad Kashmir on land owned by one of the suspects, Usman Khan.[7][10] The plotters were monitored by covert listening device and found to be engaged in Holocaust denial by claiming that fewer than 100,000 Jews died in the Holocaust.[11] Other targets included: the US Embassy in London, two rabbis each from a separate synagogue, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, and Boris Johnson; the plotters had procured their addresses.[12][13] All the conspirators envisioned returning experienced, together with future recruits, from their Kashmiri training camp to execute terror attacks in the UK[14]

The conspirators further reconnoitred several additional targets, including Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey.[15]

The terrorist network was composed of individuals from Birmingham, Cardiff, East London, and Stoke-on-Trent. The main focus of the East London group was to attack targets in the UK. The most active was the Stoke group, which had as primary goal to set up the terrorist camp to be disguised as a madrassa, though bombing pubs in Stoke was also discussed.[4] The Stoke cell was described by the prosecution as having "well developed" field craft, and being concerned about being arrested on account of the other groups' naiveté.[16][17] The Stoke group's sophistication disturbed authorities the most.[lower-alpha 5]

Convictions

The conspirators were arrested in December 2010;[5] all nine network members pled guilty and eight were convicted of engaging in preparation for acts of terrorism.[9]

Three of the nine (Mohammad Shahjahan, Nazam Hussein, and Usman Khan), all from Stoke, were given indefinite prison terms, on account of being considered "more dangerous than the others". Nonetheless, an appellate judge determined that this characterisation was "unfair" and their sentences were reduced to between 16 and 17 years' prison each.[19][20] Mohammad Shahjahan had previously been featured in a 2010 documentary produced by the BBC about people called Mohammed, on which he was presented as a former Muslims4UK member.[21][22] Usman Khan later on went on to take part in a Cambridge University rehabilitation programme where he was considered a "poster boy for Britain's anti-radicalisation strategy" and later yet perpetrated the 2019 London Bridge stabbing,[lower-alpha 6][23] when he killed two people and wounded three more.[24]

The 'lynchpin' of the plot was Mohammed Chowdury,[lower-alpha 7] also spelled Chowdhury.[8][lower-alpha 8]

Notes
  1. "Codenamed Operation Guava and featuring British radical groups, the Internet, Inspire magazine, training camps in Pakistan, prison radicalisation and a mysterious character known as "the Bengali," this case brings together a number of different strands in British jihadist terrorism"[1]
  2. "A long-term investigation led by British intelligence agency MI5 into a network of cells of British Muslims suspected of plotting acts of terrorism"[1]
  3. "Code-named Operation Guava, the investigation was part of a long-term effort to disrupt a domestic network [...] Key among their possessions was Inspire magazine"[4]
  4. "plan also included a series of parcel bombs to be constructed based on instructions printed in an Al-Qaeda newsletter"[5]
  5. "the authorities were much more concerned about the sophistication displayed by the Stoke branch of the gang"[18]
  6. "The poster boy for Britain's anti-radicalisation strategy turned up at the event with a hoax explosive device strapped to his chest"[18]
  7. "a picture has emerged of central plotter Mohammed Chowdury"[1]
  8. "The 'lynchpin' of the group was [...] Mohammed Chowdhury [...] He made the most phone calls between the group and organised meetings"[4]

References
  1. Pantucci, Raffaello (7 February 2012). "The perils of leaderless jihad". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  2. Paul Hannon; Stephen Fidler (30 November 2019). "Attack by Convicted Terrorist Prompts U.K. to Review Sentencing". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 December 2019. Mr. Khan was one of nine people who were imprisoned after pleading guilty to being part of a group that was plotting in 2010 to plant a pipe bomb in a toilet in the London Stock Exchange. The group, which had been tracked by Britain's internal security service MI5 in an operation code-named Guava
  4. Pantucci, Raffaello (2015). "chapter 7". 'We Love Death as You Love Life': Britain's Suburban Terrorists. Oxford University Press. pp. 280–281. ISBN 978-1849041652. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  5. Simon Israel (27 December 2010). "Christmas 'terror plot' targeted London landmarks". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  6. "Stock Exchange plotters: Fantasists or a threat?". BBC News. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  7. Pantucci, Raffaello (2015). "Innovation and Learning in the British Jihad". In Ranstorp, Magnus; Normark, Magnus (eds.). Understanding Terrorism Innovation and Learning: Al-Qaeda and Beyond. Routledge. p. 221. ISBN 978-1317538059. Retrieved 1 December 2019. the Operation Guava group planned to establish a training camp in Kashmir on the grounds of a piece of property owned by one of the cell's members and to turn this into a location where British jihadists could go and train
  8. Sageman, Marc (2017). "chapter 1". Misunderstanding Terrorism. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0812248890. Retrieved 1 December 2019. "Operation" Guava; "Major Suspects" Chowdhury et al.; "Incident" London Stock Exchange Plot
  9. "The Terrorism Acts in 2012: report of the Independent Reviewer" (PDF). Government of the United Kingdom. 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2019. three men from Stoke (Usman Khan, [...] Following their arrest in December 2010, all nine members of the network pleaded guilty
  10. "Terrorism gang jailed for plotting to blow up London Stock Exchange". The Telegraph. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2019. Usman Khan, 20, and Nazam Hussain, 26, were raising money to set up a terror training camp on land owned by Khan's family in Kashmir, Pakistan
  11. "Usman Khan profile: terrorist who wanted to bomb London Stock Exchange". The Guardian. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019. Group members were bugged and heard claiming that fewer than 100,000 Jews died in the Holocaust
  12. Duncan Gardham (1 February 2012). "Terrorists admit plot to bomb London Stock Exchange and US Embassy". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 December 2019. "target list" was found at the home of the ring-leader which listed the names and addresses of Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, as well as two Rabbis and the American Embassy.
  13. Caroline Gammell (27 December 2010). "Christmas bomb plot: nine men remanded over plan to 'blow up Big Ben and Westminster Abbey'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019. Among the details were the addresses of the Dean of St Paul's Chapter House and of two rabbis at separate synagogues.
  14. "Terror group members who planned to bomb London Stock Exchange jailed". The Guardian. Press Association. 9 February 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2019. It was envisaged by them all that ultimately they and the other recruits may return to the UK as trained and experienced terrorists available to perform terrorist attacks in this country.
  15. "The gang had carried out surveillance of other possible targets including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye" https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/30/named-pictured-london-bridge-attacker-convicted-terrorist-11244497/
  16. "Usman Khan, etc., vs. the Queen" (PDF). Judiciary of the United Kingdom. Royal Courts of Justice. Retrieved 8 December 2019. the Stoke group who were not naive at all. They themselves appreciated (as evidence by their conversations) that they were dealing with an inexperienced and hot headed group who might get them all arrested despite their own well developed field craft. In this they were right.
  17. "'We don't understand how Usman Khan ended up like this'". The Guardian. 30 November 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019. dealing with an inexperienced and hot-headed group who might get them all arrested despite their own well developed field craft
  18. Tom Harper; Jon Ungoed-Thomas; Caroline Wheeler (1 December 2019). "London Bridge attack: poster boy for rehabilitation. And killer". The Times. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  19. Lorraine King (1 December 2019). "Six of the Cardiff bomb plotters who worked with London Bridge killer Usman Khan have been released from prison". Media Wales. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  20. Bird, Steve (30 November 2019). "Leveson ruling opened the door to killer's early release". The Daily Telegraph.
  21. Dominic Casciani (9 February 2012). "Stock Exchange plotters: Fantasists or a threat?". BBC. Retrieved 1 December 2019. Shahjahan appeared more openly in a religious documentary produced by the BBC about people called Mohammed. In the interview, he was introduced as a former member of Islam4UK and he held up a sign, saying he has been deprived of his freedom of speech. "Many people would call me a radical, a fundamentalist, maybe a terrorist," he said. "But if they say that I'm a terrorist because I'm calling for my faith, then fair enough. It doesn't mean nothing to me."
  22. "Jihadist sets out vision for UK". BBC News.
  23. Hayley Dixon; Victoria Ward; Greg Wilford (1 December 2019). "London bridge attacker was poster boy for rehab scheme he targeted". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 December 2019. Learning Together, a Cambridge University programme, worked with Usman Khan in prison and after his release and used him as a case study to show how they helped prisoners
  24. "LATEST: London Bridge terror attack". Mynewsdesk.
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