WhatFinger


But town of origin gives cause for additional concern

Poppy Day Bomb Plot Foiled



Eight years ago, when UK security forces arrested a number of people planning on blowing up airliners, the raids included homes in the bustling market town of High Wycombe which sits on the M40 about 30 minutes north of Heathrow.
What stands out with the mention of Wycombe, locals frequently don’t use the first word, is that it’s a solidly Conservative voting area best known on the left for brazenly hosting the USAF’s European Nuclear Command during the Cold War. But pockets of Wycombe are becoming increasingly radicalized despite the town remaining largely Caucasian (76%). The first tipoff to this in 2003 was when the town library refused to put up a poster advertising a Christmas carol service for fear of offending minorities. According to Peter Mussett, the council's community development librarian (there actually is such a government position): “We have a multi-faith community, and it is the case that passions can be inflamed by religious issues. We don't want to cause offence to anyone.” Except that the town which is culturally Christian for the most part was offended. Three years on and the terror plot was no laughing matter. The Transatlantic Terror Plot had planned to bring down at least seven aircraft, five to the US and two to Canada, departing from Heathrow targeting, American Air, United Air, and Air Canada. Five people were arrested from three Wycombe homes. Assad Sarwa, said by the prosecution to be the quartermaster of the plot, was convicted three years later of conspiring to activate bombs in Woolwich court in London, coincidentally or not where soldier Lee Rigby was later murdered. This week plans to disrupt Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in America) services in Britain were once again foiled by UK security forces. The plan was to attack solemn Sunday services with gunfire causing death and injury. Four suspected Islamist terrorists aged 19-27 were arrested by armed police on suspicion of plotting the attacks in the UK – three of them live in Wycombe. 19-year-old Yousaf Syed was held following a raid by 30 police officers on a house in Desborough Road, High Wycombe at around 7.30pm on Thursday and was described by neighbours as having become religious in recent months. A neighbour said: “There was a pre-emptive raid back in April on the same house. We don’t want trouble like this with Remembrance Sunday.” Another resident said Syed had recently been “radicalised” and had confronted him over the “western hip-hop” music he was playing.

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Wycombe Islamic Society (WISE)

John Trantham, 25, who works as a carer, has lived next door to the raided property since February and said: “His mother said he has just found his faith. I have had a number of run ins with him. He kept wanting me to turn my music down or not play music at all, saying he didn’t approve of western hip hop. He has threatened me and I was having to complain to my landlord about it. I thought it was a domestic thing and I’m so shocked it is terror related. It’s really surprised everyone.” Police also carried out a raid at an address in nearby Deeds Grove, High Wycombe - home to relatives of Syed - where a "substantial find" was made, according to one community leader. The second High Wycombe man, is 27-year-old Omar Hussain, a former Morrisons supermarket security guard, who travelled to Syria to join Islamic State extremists in January this year. He appeared in an Islamic State video urging British Muslims to “rise up” and “cause terror right from within”. The third Wycombe resident is Shabazz Suleman, 18, who attended the town's prestigious Royal Grammar School, but disappeared during study leave for his A-levels in May and is thought to have fled the country in order to fight alongside jihadis in the Islamist terror group. Suleman was reported to be among 180 captured fighters returned to IS in exchange for 49 Turkish and Iraqi hostages. Fellow pupils at Wycombe Royal Grammar said Suleman frequented the Muslim Education Centre in High Wycombe – also attended by Assad Sarwa – and had expressed support for IS’s so-called 'caliphate’ of Syria and the Levant. Community leaders told The Daily Telegraph that an additional eight young men, aged from 18 to 27, have gone missing in recent months and are feared to now be in Syria. According to The Telegraph the men formerly attended the Wycombe Islamic Society (WISE) - as did Omar Hussain - though that organisation last night condemned any attempt to radicalise British Muslims. Zaf Hussain, a neighbour and local council worker, said: “There are eight former WISE mosque students who have all gone missing, believed to be in Syria. Their parents are not to blame, they didn’t realise their children were going to do this.” Mohammed Khaliel, a leading figure in the town’s Muslim community, added: “All the families I have spoken to are really shocked because generally the children have gone without giving any indication that they are going to other parts of the world to become involved in dangerous activities. The dilemma is the parents want them back, they know they’ll be arrested the moment they return and they need to be protected because they have been radicalised by others. The families I have spoken to are distraught, they just want their loved ones home. They have contacted their parents telling them they are in Syria but are fine. They don’t believe they are fighting.” Following Syed’s initial arrest in April his passport was suspended. He subsequently became increasingly active as a propagandist for radical Islam at home, distributing leaflets outside WISE, in Totteridge Road, and holding regular meetings for as many as 20 men at a time at his home. A neigbour said “Some of the men who have disappeared are linked to the meetings at his home. It is believed he was trying to recruit people to go to Syria. Every Sunday evening he held a meeting at his home where 15 to 20 men would attend. People were suspicious because of the number of people attending, it was unusual.” The Telegraph reported that Syed’s apparent radicalisation appears to have its roots in a trip to Pakistan he made earlier this year, as well as the influence of the propaganda widely disseminated by Islamic State on social media.Before moving to High Wycombe he frequented a mosque in Luton, another extremist hotbed near London, also attended by members of the banned Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun. UK Security Forces appear to be on top of things for the most part but it is clear that as was seen in the Boston Marathon bombing and more recently in Ottawa, home grown conversions are an increasing reality. Stopping this requires a surrender of some of the privacies to which we have become accustomed. That is very unpopular with some so people’s right to privacy also has to be addressed in a substantial way. It also means that the pandering to minority groups has to stop. Serious government leaders will have to be able to take one on the nose if they are to push forward and implement the kind of profiling that is needed to protect our society. Compromise with liberal ideologies will only lead to the eventual destruction of the ways of life we love and cherish.

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David C. Jennings -- Bio and Archives

David Jennings is an ex-pat Brit. living in California.

A Christian Minister he advocates for Traditional & Conservative causes.

David is also an avid fan of Liverpool Football Club and writes for the supporters club in America

David Jennings can be found on Twitter
His blog can be read here


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