Two individuals including a Canadian national were convicted on terrorism charges in the United Kingdom, the RCMP said in a statement Tuesday, adding that it helped in securing the conviction.
Khaled Hussein, a Canadian citizen and resident of Edmonton, and Anjem Choudary, a British citizen, were convicted in the United Kingdom on multiple charges under Britain’s Terrorism Act on Tuesday.
The RCMP said in October 2019, its Federal Policing Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET), Northwest Region, launched an anti-terrorism investigation. Hussein, a Canadian national who is said to have worked at a gas station in Edmonton, was identified by the RCMP as a “person of interest.”
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The agency said it discovered, in an undercover operation, that Hussein was “heavily involved” with a group called the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS), also known by the name Al-Muhajiroun (ALM). The RCMP statement said former ALM members had been linked to terror plots in the U.K.
The RCMP said that during the course of its three-year investigation, they “were able to confirm Hussein was sharing ITS/ALM information on a global scale on behalf of, and taking direction from, 57-year-old Anjem Choudary, of London.”
“Choudary, a British national, was previously convicted in 2016 under the Terrorism Act in the United Kingdom, for inviting support for the terror group ISIS, and jailed for five-and-a-half years,” the RCMP said.
The RCMP said it reached out with its findings to the FBI and NYPD in the United States and the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, which are carrying out parallel investigations.
In June 2023, the RCMP learned that Hussein planned to travel from Edmonton to London, England. On July 17, 2023, he was arrested upon landing in London.
Evidence collected in Canada by the RCMP was presented in court during the trial of both men, which the agency said was essential to securing the convictions.