The 17-year-old boy, who was arrested after researching the security surrounding a Bieber concert, was found guilty of five terror offenses.
- Nov 28, 2017
AceShowbiz - A British teenager has been found guilty of plotting an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on the same day as Justin Bieber's concert in Cardiff. The 17-year-old boy, whose name cannot be revealed due to his age, was found guilty of five terror offenses following his arrest on June 30. The boy was arrested after researching the security surrounding a Bieber concert.
When police raided the boy's home, they found a claw hammer and a gutting knife in his school backpack. They also found a martyrdom note that read, "I am a soldier of the Islamic State. I have attacked Cardiff today because your government keep on bombing targets in Syria and Iraq. There will be more attacks in the future."
Prosecutors told the the jury that the boy had also written a note with bullet points including "run down the non-believers with a car" and "strike the infidels who oppose Allah in the neck." It was also reported that the teenager had been talking to someone named Al-Baghdadi on Instagram for a week. It led prosecutors to speculate that the boy had been talking to the leader of ISIS, Abu Bark Al-Baghdadi.
In his defense, the boy claimed that he had no intention of carrying out a terror attack and insisted that he was merely curious, adding that he wanted to know how easy it was for people to get information about terrorism. "I wanted to see if it was possible, not for me but from someone else's point of view," he said.
A member of Crown Prosecution Service, Sue Hemming, didn't believe what the boy said, though. He argued that the teenager's behavior "leaves no doubt that he intended to kill and maim as many people as possible in an attack reminiscent of the incident on Westminster Bridge."
The 17-year-old boy will be sentenced on January 10, 2018. Judge Mark Wall QC stated that the teenager's offenses are "obviously merit a significant custodial sentence."
