The Capture Of al Qaedas Most Notorious Cyber Jihadist IRH007
January 17, 2008
If this is your first time visiting National Terror Alert you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. The National terror Alert feed features breaking news, alerts and bulletins on demand and it's free of charge..
You will only see this message on your first visit to the site. Thanks for visiting!
About a dozen uniformed police in riot gear, and a handful of detectives, gathered outside the four-story terraced house on a quiet street just off Shepherds Bush roundabout in West London.
After a tip-off from overseas colleagues, they knew that inside was a man in contact with a group planning a bombing in Central Europe. His name was Younes Tsouli, but the detectives knew little more about him.
As they tried to shove their way in, the young man in the top-floor flat forced his door shut. It didn’t hold for long. Once the police flooded in, there was a struggle. A mirror smashed and one officer emerged bloodied from a shard of glass. Tsouli was overpowered. “He was thoroughly detained,” one detective recalls. At first, officers were not sure that they had the right person: the long-haired young man in jogging shorts bore little resemblance to the short-haired man in the photo they had been given. But when he confirmed his name, they knew they had their man. Two detectives led him away.
Amid the mess typical of any 22-year-old’s room, detectives found a laptop on a desk, still switched on and with programes running. When specialist forensic science officers arrived, they found that Tsouli had been creating a website called YOUBOMBIT. A banner with the title and flames was across the bottom of the screen. Also on his screen was a search box with the word “bomb” as the search term. Tsouli was logged in under the username IRH007. The detectives didn’t know it – and wouldn’t realize for some weeks – but they had caught one of the most notorious, most wanted cyber-jihadists in the world: a man whose case illustrated perfectly how terrorists are using the internet not just to spread propaganda, but to organize attacks.
- Ohio - Suspicious Packages Cause Evacuation of Putnam County Courthouse
- Police hunt for lethal chemical suicide vest
- Pipe Bomb and Unidentified Chemicals Found In Car During Traffic Stop - Livermore
- Suspicious Containers Found Inside U-Haul Truck - Bakersfield Ca
- Smiley Face Gang - Detectives Say 40 Drowning Victims May Have Been Murdered
Comments
Got something to say?
Advertisement
Add this Live Alert
