No one remembers the ones they catch in time. Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein will quickly be forgotten and so will the carnage they planned to visit upon British Jews. The men were convicted at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday of preparing terrorist acts. A third man, Bilel Saadaoui, brother of Walid, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about planned terrorist acts. Walid plotted to open fire on a march against anti-Semitism in Manchester city centre before moving onto a Jewish area in the north of the city to continue the massacre. Police officers who got in the way were to be shot dead.

It is not enough to identify and prosecute individuals, the state has to root out cultures which have only been present in this country for a few generations but have already confirmed themselves as fundamental threats

Walid was no keyboard fantasist. In February 2024 he paid a deposit to smuggle two AK-47 rifles, two handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition into Britain. He reconned target sites across Greater Manchester, acquired a safe house, and recruited fellow Islamic State enthusiast Amar as his wingman. Walid confided his plans to his brother Bilel, also an Islamic State admirer, but while Bilel didn’t want to be part of the terror attack, he agreed to look after his brother’s financial arrangements, which included secreting £70,000 in a safe to prevent its seizure after the massacre. (British jihadist plots to commit mass murder but not before........

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