Asylum seeker used benefits for terrorism

Saturday 21 July 2012

A SCOTS-based asylum-seeker has been found guilty of financing terrorism using illegally claimed benefits.

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GRANT McCABE

Nasserdine Menni, from Algeria, was yesterday convicted of the charge following an 11-week trial which heard how he transferred money to Taimour Abdulwahab, who later blew himself up in Stockholm on December 11, 2010.

A jury returned a not-proven verdict in connection with an allegation Menni conspired to murder Swedish citizens.

The verdicts followed a major probe –involving the FBI and police in Sweden and France – which uncovered Menni's links to suicide bomber Abdulwahab. Menni, who had moved to Britain in 2005, became friends with the Muslim extremist while they both lived in Luton, Bedfordshire. He later ended up in Glasgow claiming asylum and it was money received in benefits and for low-paid jobs while living in the city that prosecutors believe was to be utilised for terrorism. The Algerian had denied being a "financier" and his legal team alleged during the trial that cash was given to Abdulwahab to pass on to family back home. But after deliberating for nine hours, a jury at the High Court in Glasgow found Menni guilty of providing sums of money he knew or suspected would be used for the purposes of terrorism. He was also convicted of immigration and benefit fraud.Addressing trial judge Lord Matthews as he left the dock, Menni, who will be sentenced next month, said: "Thank you very much, my Lord, for the justice in Scotland."Abdulwahab – an Iraqi-bornSwedish citizen – killed himself in December 11, 2010, in an explosion in the centre of Stockholm in which two other people were injured. He rigged an Audi car with explosives in the hope it would carry people to Drottninggatan, a busy shopping street about 200 yards away, where he was waiting to set off two more devices strapped to his chest and back.The car bomb never went off, and after setting fire to the Audi he was unable to detonate the other two explosives. He made his way down a side street off Drottninggatan and, in an apparent attempt to fix the faulty trigger up his sleeve, set off the bomb on the front of his body, killing himself.The authorities soon began a large-scale investigation into Abdulwahab's background and his links to Menni quickly emerged. The pair had formed a bond while living among the close-knit Arabic community in Luton and Menni worked in a £17,000-a-year job at Magna Seating in Dunstable making seats for cars. He worked there under the name Emmanuel Philip Bernard, having purchased false identity documents.In April 2009, Menni suddenly disappeared. It emerged he had gone to Liverpool claiming asylum, pretending to be a Kuwaiti citizen named Ezeeden al Khaledi. Menni, who is believed to be in his early 30s, then ended up in Glasgow – initially living in the city's Red Road high-rise flats – and working in restaurant kitchens.He had a number of bank accounts in various aliases and he transferred vital sums of cash to Abdulwahab to fund the terror plot.Menni deposited amounts totalling £5725 prosecutors alleged had helped pay for Abdulwahab's trips abroad for the "purposes of jihad" and the Audi car used in the bombing. Another £1000 was sent, intended for Abdulwahab's wife after his death.Prosecutor Andrew Miller told the jury: "He made that payment because of his approval and involvement in Abdulwahab's activities."After the verdict yesterday, David Harvie, director of serious casework for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: "Nasserdine Menni has today been brought to justice for a terrorist act which culminated in the Stockholm suicide bombing of 2010."He was involved in the financing of this attack which was intended to murder members of the public in Sweden. "It was only good fortune which prevented members of the public being killed."Menni will be sentenced on August 27.

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Asylum seeker used benefits for terrorism

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