A terror suspect toured potential targets in Britain while posing as an Afghan refugee.
Hakim Nasiri was described as a ‘human bomb’ when arrested in Italy this week accused of being in an Islamic State
cell.
A chilling image found on his phone shows the 24-year-old brandishing an M16 assault rifle in a British supermarket.
Easy rider: Nasiri travelling through Orpington, south-east London on the train
The discovery raises fears of a Paris-style gun rampage in this country.
And
a Mail investigation can reveal Nasiri made suspicious journeys around
Britain and mainland Europe under a series of bogus names.
On social
media he claimed to be the manager of a takeaway in Birmingham and also a
student in the city – all while supposedly living under refugee status
in an asylum hostel in Bari.
He
boasted on his Facebook page about travel to Paris and Milan and shared
pictures of himself in London outside Buckingham Palace and at the
Shard. He also posted images of jihadi symbols and weapons.
Pose:
Nasiri in Star City shopping centre in Birmingham (left) and in front of
the Shard with his iPad on August 12, 2015 (right)
Italian
police believe he was in a five-strong terror gang scouting London
hotels and restaurants as well as the Thames cable car. Two members of
the gang are still on the loose.
Vincenzo
Molinese, who is a colonel in the Bari carabinieri, said: ‘The phone
images of Nasiri holding a machine gun were probably taken in the back
room of a supermarket in England.’
The photo is believed to have been taken on July 7 last year – the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings.
Target: Nasiri scouted the area near Buckingham Palace
British
security sources say Nasiri used more than one identity when passing
through UK passport checks. They suggested the rifle might be
decommissioned or even a fake.
But
they are checking whether he had any links to Mohamed Abrini, a
Brussels airport attack suspect who was in Birmingham at the same time
as Nasiri last July.
Abrini, 31, had pictures of Aston Villa’s stadium on his phone when was arrested last month.
As
police and the Home Office work to unravel his multiple identities,
photographs emerged of Nasiri posing in a bustling British shopping
street. One of him wearing an Afghan flag around his neck was entitled:
‘Me and my life in GB.’
Last
July he told his online followers that London was ‘too hot today’.
Later that month he was in Birmingham wishing his friends a happy Eid
and throwing a party at his rented home in the north of the city.
Last night his landlord’s wife said he had left the address some time ago and she didn’t know what had happened to him.
On August 3, Nasiri posed for photos outside the Shard before he moved on to Paris, Milan and then to Bari.
Four
days later, on August 12, he was in Calais – the entrypoint into
Britain for migrants and would-be jihadis. He later posted ‘thumbs-up’
pictures of himself on a train passing through south-east London.
But he was soon back in Bari, where he had been granted humanitarian residence status after arriving as a refugee in 2013.
He supposedly lived in a hostel for asylum seekers that overlooks the Adriatic.
Jet-setter: Nasiri by the sea in Bari, Italy (left) and outside an Italian pizza restaurant (right)
Nasri even had taken a selfie with who
is believed to be the mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro, during a march to
show solidarity with immigrant citizens last September
Yet Nasiri claims on Facebook that he had studied at Birmingham City University – a claim the institution emphatically denies.
And workers denied knowing anything about him at the Dixy Chicken restaurant he claims to have worked at.
Italian
police had been monitoring Nasiri’s alleged terror gang since December
when they were detained after being seen filming a shopping centre in
Bari.
TOTING A GUN IN A BRITISH SUPERMARKET
This is terror suspect Hakim Nasiri posing with an assault rifle in what Italian police say is probably an English supermarket.
He
is pictured wearing a yellow polo shirt as he raises the M16 assault
rifle, one finger apparently on the trigger, his other hand supporting
the barrel of the weapon.
The
American M16 rifle is a highly effective weapon. Jihadis usually favour
the Russian-designed AK-47 because it is easy to use and readily
available in conflict zones. However, it is less accurate and reliable
than an M16.
Mike
Yardley, a former Army officer and firearms expert, said: ‘This was the
favoured weapon of the Provisional IRA because they were relatively
easy to train people to use. It may have been imported from Ireland.’ He
said another option was it could have leaked from US bases in the UK.
He
was arrested at the hostel on suspicion of international terrorism,
while fellow Afghan Gulistan Ahmadzai, 29, was picked up at a similar
hostel in Foggia. He has also spent time in London.
Zulfiqar
Amjad, a 24-year-old Pakistani, was arrested in Milan. He and Gulistan
are suspected of operating a smuggling route for migrants and
terrorists.
Surgul
Ahmadzai, who is accused of scouting for targets in London, and fellow
alleged jihadi, Qari Khesta Mir Ahmadzai, 30, have gone on the
run. Surgul, 28, described himself on social media as a ‘London student’
and had an address in Stratford, close to the Olympic park. They are
believed to be in Kabul.
They
had been tracked visiting seven cities in nine days paying budget air
fares in cash. All five suspects had been granted refugee status in
Italy, meaning they would have been able to take advantage of Europe’s
open borders to move freely around the continent.
Among the potential targets found on their phones were hotels in London’s Docklands.
Pictures
of a footbridge to Canary Wharf and the Premier Inn outside Westfield
in Stratford were also discovered. The cell was allegedly planning
attacks in France, Italy and Belgium as well as on Rome’s Colosseum.
Pictures
of mutilated US soldiers were discovered on the phones, along with
recordings of prayers to prepare recruits for martyrdom.
On
Mir Ahmadzai’s phone, Barack Obama was depicted as a donkey, along with
gruesome images of disfigured American soldiers and British soldiers
arriving home in coffins.
Prosecutors
said they had material showing an ‘ideological hatred of the West and
support for terrorism in Afghanistan’ and a ‘checklist of Western
symbols to destroy’.
Surgal’s phone contained pictures of alleged targets in London, Rome and Bari.
The two Afghans were described as ‘human bombs’ by right-wing politician Matteo Salvini, leader of the Northern League.
This graphic shows suspected targets
in Britain including several in east London's Docklands, a hotel at West
India Quay, the luxury Sunborn yacht hotel in Royal Victoria Dock and
an Ibis hotel nearby
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