Man found guilty of plotting terror attack on ‘thousands of homos’ at Pride in London
Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, plotted an attack on the Pride in London parade (Photos: Metropolitan Police/Getty Images)
A man has been found guilty over a plan to attack the Pride in London parade.
Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, a 28-year-old former Uber driver, was found guilty of terror offences by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday over his plans to target Pride and tourist hotspots across London.
The court heard that Chowdhury vented about “homos” and planned to “unleash death and suffering on non-Muslim members of the public” by targeting the Pride parade.
Chowdhury had bought knives and training swords in preparation for the attack, and had begun training for fights – also looking at firearms training and researching how to buy a gun.
However, his plans were uncovered by undercover officers – who had kept the wannabe terrorist under surveillance in the wake of a 2017 incident outside Buckingham Palace, which saw him drive a car through bollards and become embroiled in a violent altercation with police.
He had escaped a prison sentence over the Buckingham Palace incident after convincing a jury his actions were an attempt at “suicide by cop” – but Chowdhury was kept under surveillance by police and security forces who posed as friendly radicals.
Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC told the court: “Believing them to be as sincerely committed as he was, he told them of his devotion to the cause of violent Islamic extremism, the basis for this devotion and the skewed religious beliefs that underpinned it.”
Man vented about ‘homos’ as he plotted attack on Pride in London
In covert recordings released to the court, Chowdury said he believed it was “halal permitted” for jihadis to target gay people – opting to pick Pride in London parade as a prospective target ruling out Remembrance Sunday commemorations due to heightened security.
Chowdury reflected: “The security for other events is piss-poor like the gay parades they have. Thousands of homos marching and waving their flags. The way they march they are asking to get hit by some jihadist.”
Atkinson told the court: “The object was to unleash death and suffering on non-Muslim members of the public who happened to be present, using a firearm, sword and even a van, as part of an attack… he was unquestionably preparing for terrorism in 2019.”
Participants celebrate during the 2019 Pride in London parade.
(Photo by David Cliff/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The jihadist was arrested just days before the Pride in London parade in July 2019.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said: “In counter terrorism, we constantly balance the risk dangerous individuals pose to the public with the need to gather evidence strong enough to secure a conviction and ensure they are locked up.
“Mohuissunnath Chowdhury was determined to kill innocent people but we arrested him at the right time, having been able to gather sufficient evidence of his plans.”
Sister found guilty of failing to disclose plot
Chowdury was found guilty of preparation of acts of terrorism, dissemination of a terrorist publication and possession of information useful to terrorism – while his sister Sneha Chowdhury was convicted on one count of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism, but cleared of a second count of the same charge.
Smith said: “There is no acceptable reason for listening to someone say they are planning to kill innocent people, and watching them practise how they will do that, then not reporting it to police. Sneha Chowdhury wilfully kept her brother’s horrific secret and is now facing the consequences.”
Mohuissunnath Chowdhury will be sentenced on March 13, while his sister will be sentenced at a late date.
