(AFP Photo)
(AFP) – Six Islamic extremists were handed lengthy jail terms in Britain on Monday for plotting a murderous attack on a far-right group.
They planned to attack a rally by the English Defence League (EDL) — a group which opposes the spread of radical Islam in Britain — in June last year but turned up after the demonstration had ended.
They were armed with two shotguns, swords, knives, a nail bomb and a partially-assembled pipe bomb.
The plot only unravelled when two of them men were stopped by chance while driving back home from the rally location in Dewsbury in northern England.
Their car was found to contain not only the weapons arsenal but also 10 copies of a hate-filled note referring to Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron.
Omar Mohammed Khan, 31, Jewel Uddin, 27, Mohammed Hasseen, 24, Anzal Hussain, 25, Mohammed Saud, 23, and Zohaib Ahmed, 22 — all from Birmingham in central England — admitted planning the attack at a hearing on April 30.
Khan, Uddin and Ahmed were jailed for 19-and-a-half years, with the other three jailed for 18 years and nine months.
They will be eligible for release after two-thirds of their sentences but could be recalled to prison in the five years following the end of their full term.
