"Oh Met where is thy sting-a-ling-a-ling! / Or grave thy victory."

The ending of the "Crevice" trial removed reporting instructions in the case of Kazi Nurur Rahman (AKA Abdul Haleem according to Mohammed Babar) ) 29, said to be a plumber, who was arrested on November 29th 2005 and charged with "attempting to possess property intending it should be used for the purpose of terrorism" (section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000,) and pleaded guilty - he was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment.

It was because Rhaman knew some of the "Crevice" trial defendents and had visited training camps in Pakistan, that details of his arrest and trial (in May 2006) had been suppressed. The star Police "supergrass" Mohammed Babar, also told the Old Bailey that Rahman was the head of a terrorist cell in east London.

Apparently Rahman first became known to the police in 1995 when he was arrested and charged in connection with the death of Ayotunde Obanubi, a Nigerian student (and it is said a Christian) who was stabbed to death outside Newham College in east London - said to be the result of tensions between Muslim and non-Muslim students. It was incidentally at this college that our old friend MI 5 contact and refugee from the law Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed who founded both the UK Hizb branch and Luton based Al Muhajiroun frequently gave lectures.

Apparently about 15 students armed with knives, machetes and hammers attacked Obanubi who was struck on the head with a hammer, and a knife pierced his heart. He died on the spot. His death was the first known instance of Muslim fanatics killing someone on British soil for "religious" reasons. The prosecutor in the case was the very interesting David "Murky" Waters QC (of which , much, much more here), now senior treasury counsel. Charges were withdrawn in the case of Rahman.

The court was told that in 2001 Rahman had given a shadowy interview to ITN reporter John Gilbert, in which he admitted recruiting hundreds of British Muslims to fight with the Taleban.

He told John Gilbert: "I can't wait for the day I meet British soldiers on the battlefield to see them run. I am happy to kill them."

It appears that after Kayham and the others were arrested having purchased some ammonium nitrate , Rahman was approached by 2 undercover police officers .One named as "Mohamed" , but not otherwise identified , he claimed he could supply Rahman with guns, together with silencers and 3,000 rounds of ammunition. Rahman is said to have offered to pay £1,000 per gun.

This direct aproach was the culmination of several (up to 8 meetings) Rahman had starting with an undercover MI5 agent called "Salim" on July 20, 2005 (2 weeks after 7/7 and the day before 21/7) . The meeting had concerned acquiring counterfeit banknotes, but Rahman had apparently told "Salim" that he wanted to buy a Kalashnikov rifle, guns and a silencer. There followed seven further meetings with undercover agent(s ?). On the second meeting, Rahman had asked for "hand grenades and rocket propelled grenades”, making hand gestures to describe the weapons. He spoke of two types of launchers. He said he would pay cash for the weapons and a provisional price of £1,000 (US$1,987) per machine gun was agreed.

Rahman was quoted a price of around £70,000 a Sam-7 missile and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) a sum which Rahman is said to have described as "no problem". Although no eveidence of him having had such funds or access to them was provided in court.

The Sting (slick MI5 sting. The Sun 1/5/07)

On 29th November 2005 Rahman met "Mohamed" at South Mimms services on the M25 and handed over some money it was at this stage that another undercover officer named as 'Iqbal', arrived and they drove to a cul-de-sac in nearby Welham Green, Hertfordshire.

There "Iqbal "showed a suitcase containing the guns, wrapped in black plastic bags inside a van to Rahman . Rahman told "Iqbal" to put the suitcase in the back of his vehicle and they would leave that location and find a better, safer place for the exchange.

"Iqbal" refused to do this. Rahman also stated that he wanted to see the ammunition, which had not been brought to the location for safety reasons.

"Iqbal" told him the ammunition was nearby. Rahman was unhappy and said it looked like a 'sting'. "Iqbal" returned to his vehicle and telephoned "Mohamed" and it was at this point that armed officers intervened and Rahman was arrested."

When Rahman's home in Manor Park, east London was searched police found literature relating to the 9/11 "martyrs" and details of guerrilla warfare and how to execute prisoners there was also a scanner which could pick up police radio messages, literature on guerilla warfare, and details of an electricity sub-station ("that could have caused significant black-outs across London if it were disabled.- D Torygraph) . Quite why the Scotsman on December 6th 2005 repeated an allegation ,"that he had a stash of weapons, including three Uzi sub-machineguns, 3,000 rounds of ammunition, three silencers and nine magazines." it is not possible to say. It will certainly not have been information supplied by the Metropilitan Police that is certain.

David Farrell, QC, prosecuting, said: "The terrorist purpose, which the defendant accepts by his plea but does not define, was to cause death, injury and damage for the religious and political purposes of al-Qaeda.

When initially interviewed by the Police Rahman claimed he was working for MI5, who had recruited him 10 years earlier (remember it was 1995 when he was charged with the Newham student murder and charges were withdrawn) , but then admitted that this was not true.. and this has nothing to do with being offered a lesser plea and sentence to those the "Crevice" defendents rceived.

Peter Clarke, the Sphincter of the Yard told reporters that “This is another example of where we have been able to take pre-emptive action to protect the public from the threat of terrorism. Whenever the evidence allows us to take such action, we will do so.”

When "pre-emptive" action means offering lethal weaponry for sale to people with allegedly terrorist connections, there are some members of the public who start to question the tactics whereby prosecutions are engineered.

Legal Note

Entrapment occurs when an agent of the state causes someone to commit an offence so that the latter should be prosecuted. Entrapment is not a substantive defence in English law.

See also SpyBlog

The Title is taken from Brendan Behan's "The Hostage" in which the IRA take a british soldier prisoner in a brothel. Amidst a comic drama and love story, tyranny masquerades as liberty and common humanity is smashed by political expediency and the display of the arbitrary power of state authority as the soldier dies in hail of police bullets.