ISIS supporter from North London admits to terror offences

From the Ham and High (local newspaper of Hampstead and Highgate in North London) and the Metropolitan Police newsletter

A man from North London has admitted to committing terrorism offences before a court.

Al-Arfat Hassan, 20, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday (November 10) and confessed that he possessed chemicals for terrorism purposes. A Met Police spokesperson said Hassan was previously convicted in December 2022 of collecting information likely to be used for the cause too.

A 17-year-old from Leeds, who cannot be named, similarly accepted that he had gathered details that could have been useful for an ISIS propaganda video The young boy, who was aged 15 at the time of arrest, also agreed that he had information about terrorism acts. Hassan reportedly became friends with the teenager online and they bonded over their extremist views.

The investigation uncovered that Hassan bought chemicals that were ingredients for an explosive device. Videos of him posing with a sword and the chemicals were also discovered.

Detectives discovered that Hassan – who made rap videos – was in regular contact with someone online, who shared his views. Enquiries led officers to identify the 15-year-old co-defendant in this case.

Several of these messages said to have contained videos and images of the teenage boy in Leeds, who was seen posing with knives and featuring flags from ISIS and other terrorist groups. He was arrested nine days after Hassan on March 12, 2022.

They were each later charged with preparation of terrorism acts. After two trials, at Leeds and Sheffield Crown Courts respectively, both Hassan and the 17-year-old boy offered guilty pleas which were accepted by prosecutors.

The duo will be sentenced on February 02 next year at a court to be confirmed.

Commander Dominic Murphy who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said:“These two young defendants were brought to justice as the result of incredible work by counter-terrorism officers at the Met, with colleagues in the North East. . . The fact that these two defendants are so young is disturbing and saddening. Unfortunately, in recent years we have seen growing numbers of young people, some still in school, being arrested for involvement in terrorist activity. They are often radicalised by material and extremists they come across online, as was seen in this case.