Manchester: Two men have been convicted of planning an Islamic State-inspired gun attack on a mass gathering of Jews in the Manchester area in north-western England. Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, had a 'visceral dislike' of Jewish people and wanted to cause 'untold harm' but the plot was scuppered as they unknowingly laid bare their scheme to an undercover operative (UCO).

According to Ghana News Agency, the main instigator Saadaoui aimed to smuggle four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns, and 900 rounds of ammunition into the UK in what police chiefs said could have been Britain's deadliest terrorist incident. Months earlier, the father-of-two, originally from Tunisia, paid a deposit for the weapons and believed he had arranged for their importation with a like-minded extremist but who in fact was the UCO, referred to in court as Farouk.

Saadaoui told Farouk he could independently obtain a firearm via Sweden and indicated he was looking to bring guns from eastern Europe. Separately, he had bought an air weapon and had visited a shooting range. Counter-terrorism police intervened on the planned 'strike day' of May 8 last year, with more than 200 officers involved, as Saadaoui was arrested at a hotel car park in Bolton when he went to collect some of the firearms, which had been deactivated.

Preston Crown Court heard he hero-worshipped Islamic State (IS) terrorist Abdelhamid Abaaoud who orchestrated the 2015 Paris terror attacks in which 130 people were killed and hundreds more injured in gun attacks across the city. No specific target site or date was identified but prosecutors said the defendants planned to launch a gun assault on an antisemitism march and then head to north Manchester to kill more Jews.

Saadaoui came to the attention of the authorities when he used 10 Facebook accounts, none of which were in his own name, to spread a torrent of Islamic extremist views, as Farouk was deployed to gain his trust online and later in person. He used one of his fake accounts to join the Facebook group of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester which contained details of a 'March Against Antisemitism' held in the city centre on January 21 last year which thousands attended.

Saadaoui, of Abram, Wigan, and Hussein, of no fixed address, were convicted of preparing acts of terrorism between December 2023 and May 2024. Saadaoui's brother Bilel, 36, of Hindley, Wigan was found guilty of failing to disclose information about the plan. All three defendants will be sentenced on February 13.