Mohammed Rehman and Sana Ahmed Khan, who shared a radical and violent extremist ideology, have known each other since childhood and married in secret in October 2013, despite Khan’s parents banning them from seeing each other, reported the Telegraph.
“I told her not to see him again. This guy, I didn't want my daughter to have anything to do with him,” Mr. Khan told the court.
Khan also funded Rehman’s “jihadist” dream of planning an ISIS-inspired attack on the 10th anniversary of the July 7, 2005 London bombing. She bought chemicals and explosives manuals with her salary as a teaching assistant and took out payday loans, reported the Reading Chronicle.
Ten years ago, four suicide bombers with rucksacks full of explosives attacked central London, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds more. It was the worst single terrorist atrocity on British soil. A decade on, we look back at how events unfolded on 7 July 2005.
Their plan was foiled when Rehman asked netizens to choose a bombing site between the Westfield shopping centre or London Underground on Twitter, officials said. An undercover counterterrorism policeman who called himself Abu Mohammed posed as a fellow extremist to lure Rehman into sharing his plans, reported the Reading Chronicle.
Rehman was arrested on May 28th at a co-op, reported The Independent. When police raided his home in Radstock Road, Reading, they discovered a bomb factory in his bedroom, reported the Reading Chronicle.
He had a Jihadi John style hunting knife, 10 kg of urea nitrate explosives, Tornado nitro fuel, instruction videos for making bombs, and a 'Royal Flush' of pro-ISIS propaganda videos. Experts believe the couple were only a detonator short from completing the bomb. The couple reportedly test fired one of their bombs in their backyard, according to officials.
After their arrest, Rehman told officers that he was about to be kicked out of the family home and thought terrorism was the “easiest way to get into prison” to get a roof over his head. The couple turned on each other during trial, accusing each other of being the real extremist. The couple were convicted by a jury on Tuesday and are expected to be sentenced on Wednesday or Thursday.