‘Terrorists picnic’ before gun attack plot uncovered in Bolton carpark, jury told

Walid Saadaoui, 38, is accused of preparing acts of terrorism after he was arrested in the carpark of the Last Drop Hotel in Bromley Cross with, the court heard, a car full of guns on May 8 last year.

The closing stages of the trial at Preston Crown Court heard from prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC how Saadaoui and Amar Hussein, 52 had travelled to Dover on March 16, 2024.

He said: “Put simply, Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein were in Dover as part of the preparation for acts of terrorism which they hoped to carry out.”

The prosecutor told the court how Saadaoui and Hussain had planned a mass gun attack against the Jewish community in Prestwich and North Manchester, using guns smuggled from Dover.

The trial opened at Preston Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

He said that Saadaoui had secured a safe house in Bolton where he had hoped to store the guns.

The jury was shown images of the house, found not far off Chorley Old Road, where Saadaoui apparently hoped to store the guns.

Mr Sandhu told the jury how they had gone to Dover as part of a “reconnaissance mission” with an undercover operative known only as “Farouk” who they believed to be a fellow terrorist.

Walid Saadaoui is accused of preparing acts of terrorism (Image: GMP)

Delivering his closing speech, Mr Sandhu said the only other suggestion Saadaoui had given for the purpose of the trip was a “picnic”.

Mr Sandhu said: “It didn’t have the innocent of a teddy bears’ picnic, did it?”

The prosecutor asked the jury to imagine how the popular children’s song would sound if adapted by Islamic State’s media wing.

He said: “If you go down to Dover today, you’re sure of a big surprise.

“If you go down to Dover today, you’d better go in disguise.

“For every terrorist that every there was, will gather there because today’s the day the terrorists have their fight.”

Amar Hussein is also accused of preparing acts of terrorism (Image: GMP)

Mr Sandu said the words, which Saadaoui spoke to “Farouk”, “did not really fit” but that neither did Saadaoui’s explanation of his activities.

He told the jury that during his conversations with the undercover operative “Farouk”, Saadaoui was “being his authentic self, he was being a terrorist”.

Mr Sandu said that a string of “undoubtedly extremist” Facebook posts Saadaoui had sent out from November 2022 showed him to be a supporter of Islamic State.

He told the jury that claims he made to be acting under pressure from others and that he hoped to contact the police before any attack could take place were false.

Bilel Saadaoui is accused of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism (Image: GMP)

Mr Sandhu said: “The idea that Walid Saadaoui was some sort of one-man terrorist detection machine, who was going to uncover the plot of others, is wholly unrealistic.”

He said that Saadaoui was “more than a keyboard warrior” and that his contact with “Farouk” had seemed to give him the opportunity to make his terrorist ambitions a reality.

Mr Sandhu said that during the plot Saadaoui had acted entirely independently of “Farouk” when he recruited Hussein.

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He said: “The only thing Farouk controlled in this case was the risk that Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein presented, and that you may conclude was an entirely appropriate thing to do.”

Mr Sandu said that though Saadaoui and Hussein had “turned on each other” during the trial, the reality was “they were in it together”.

Saadaoui, of Crankwood Road, Abram, and Hussein, of no fixed address, deny preparing acts of terrorism.

His younger brother Bilel Saadaoui, 36 of Fairclough Street, Hindley, denies failure to disclose information about an act of terrorism.

The trial before Mr Justice Mark Wall continues.

Source – INDIA TV