Yes, I wanted to kill the London mayor, bomb the stock exchange
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| Gurukanth Desai and (from left) Mohammed Chowdhury, Shah Rahman and Abdul Malik Miah pleaded guilty to terror charges |
Gurukant Desai, born Abdul Mannan Miah, pleads guilty to terror charges along with five others on Wednesday
Danish Khan
Gurukant Desai, arrested with eight others in a terror crackdown across the United Kingdom in December 2010, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to plotting an attack on the London Stock Exchange, and the US Embassy in London. The group were also planning to kill Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.
Gurukant Desai, called Abdul Mannan Miah before he changed his name by a deed poll, pleaded guilty to the charges (including a plot to plant bombs in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange) along with his brother Abdul Malik Miah, Mohammed Chowdhury and Shah Rahman at the Woolwich Crown Court. Five others had already pleaded guilty to terror charges, and the nine men will be charged next week.
In 2010, when the arrests were announced, Gurukant stood out from the rest: At 28, he was the oldest in the group, and the only non-Muslim name in the list. A ‘Hindu’ man in a Salafist conspiracy. Over the past few years, the al-Qaeda has increasingly veered towards Salafism, which believes that Islam has strayed from its origins.
Investigations revealed that Gurukant Desai was just a Bollywood-inspired ruse to allow him to live and move around freely without inviting suspicion. ‘Desai’ is of Bangladeshi origin, and has no links to India (How did a hardcore Salafist turn into a Guru Desai? Mumbai Mirror, December 29, 2010).
Indians and Bangladeshis in Cardiff - where Desai lived with his wife and two children -- believed Mannan Miah changed his name to Gurukant Desai just before he and his family shifted into a new terraced house on 89, Albert Street. They said his earlier involvement in petty crime necessitated the name change.
Jaswant Singh, councillor from Cardiff Riverside, said: ‘People here realised that Gurukant Desai was not his real name. Though the name sounded Indian, he is of Bangladeshi origin.”
While the British media and the police continue to identify him as Gurukant Desai, he remains Abdul Mannan Miah for the Bangladeshi community in the UK.
It has now emerged that Desai was not the only man in the group inspired by the Mumbai filmdom; the entire group wanted to replicate the Mumbai style terror attacks of 26/11 in London. Apart from planting explosives in the toilets of the stock exchange building, they had planned to use car bombs. There were plans to hide the explosives in post, and even toy dolls.
The group were driven by the preachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born extremist who was killed in a drone attack last year. The men were arrested in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent in central England. They were part of what British authorities called the largest terror bust in two years.
Reacting to the development, DAC Stuart Osborne, Senior National Coordinator, Counter Terrorism said: “We welcome the guilty pleas entered by all nine defendants, following what was the largest counter terrorism operation of 2010. Our priority is and always will be the protection of the public.”
Gurukant Desai, called Abdul Mannan Miah before he changed his name by a deed poll, pleaded guilty to the charges (including a plot to plant bombs in the toilets of the London Stock Exchange) along with his brother Abdul Malik Miah, Mohammed Chowdhury and Shah Rahman at the Woolwich Crown Court. Five others had already pleaded guilty to terror charges, and the nine men will be charged next week.
In 2010, when the arrests were announced, Gurukant stood out from the rest: At 28, he was the oldest in the group, and the only non-Muslim name in the list. A ‘Hindu’ man in a Salafist conspiracy. Over the past few years, the al-Qaeda has increasingly veered towards Salafism, which believes that Islam has strayed from its origins.
Investigations revealed that Gurukant Desai was just a Bollywood-inspired ruse to allow him to live and move around freely without inviting suspicion. ‘Desai’ is of Bangladeshi origin, and has no links to India (How did a hardcore Salafist turn into a Guru Desai? Mumbai Mirror, December 29, 2010).
Indians and Bangladeshis in Cardiff - where Desai lived with his wife and two children -- believed Mannan Miah changed his name to Gurukant Desai just before he and his family shifted into a new terraced house on 89, Albert Street. They said his earlier involvement in petty crime necessitated the name change.
Jaswant Singh, councillor from Cardiff Riverside, said: ‘People here realised that Gurukant Desai was not his real name. Though the name sounded Indian, he is of Bangladeshi origin.”
While the British media and the police continue to identify him as Gurukant Desai, he remains Abdul Mannan Miah for the Bangladeshi community in the UK.
It has now emerged that Desai was not the only man in the group inspired by the Mumbai filmdom; the entire group wanted to replicate the Mumbai style terror attacks of 26/11 in London. Apart from planting explosives in the toilets of the stock exchange building, they had planned to use car bombs. There were plans to hide the explosives in post, and even toy dolls.
The group were driven by the preachings of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born extremist who was killed in a drone attack last year. The men were arrested in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent in central England. They were part of what British authorities called the largest terror bust in two years.
Reacting to the development, DAC Stuart Osborne, Senior National Coordinator, Counter Terrorism said: “We welcome the guilty pleas entered by all nine defendants, following what was the largest counter terrorism operation of 2010. Our priority is and always will be the protection of the public.”
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