‘Football fan’ extremist, 19, who bought a gun and looked to target Old Trafford and Manchester Arena is jailed

A teenage extremist who bought an illegal firearm and planned to target local schools as well as Old Trafford and Manchester Arena has been jailed for 13 years.

Mohammed Billal, 19, from Nelson, Lancashire, bought the gun from a secret online forum and scouted shooting ranges and crowded places before trying to join the Islamic State using the identity of a football fan traveling abroad.

He was advised to save football players on his phone and then search the internet for ‘Ronaldo wallpaper’, a reference to the Portuguese player, in order to deceive authorities when he tried to leave England.

But Billal was stopped at Manchester Airport en route to Dubai and when officers examined his phone they found several copies of an online magazine published by ISIS, as well as details of the firearm he had purchased.

Prosecutor Simon Gurney KC said Billal’s intentions were extremely clear, he was determined to carry out that intention and was very close to doing so. However, it was prevented by the intervention of the authorities.’

The Old Bailey heard that from the age of 17 he began accessing Islamic State videos urging followers to ‘rise up against the infidels’, spending up to five hours a day watching material and falling asleep listening to Islamic State hymns.

He looked at the group’s leaders, maps, recent attacks, ISIS wallpapers, logos and references to the executioner known as Jihadi John. Also purchased a balaclava online.

Billal went on to investigate anti-Semitic imagery, ISIS in Palestine, weapons in the West Bank and ‘where under 18s are going to kill the EU’.

On 16 March 2024, Billal researched how to buy weapons and visited websites offering arms sales in the UK, including Gunstar, which describes itself as the ‘UK’s leading arms marketplace’.

He browsed semi-automatic rifles and AK47s worth around £850 and four days later recorded a voicemail on his phone declaring support for the Islamic State and ‘death to America’.

A few hours later he searched for ‘big dagger’ and looked at websites selling different types of hunting knives, but on March 25 he tried to buy a firearm from a site called Gun Trader.

He began scouting military bases in the United Kingdom as targets before moving on to a university and public swimming pool in Nelson on April 12.

By July 4 Billal was looking for information on the locations of primary and secondary schools in the Colne area of ​​Lancashire.

By 1 September he was searching for crowded places in his local area, including nightclubs, busy streets, Manchester Victoria and Piccadilly railway stations, Manchester Cathedral and the AO Arena, the site of the Manchester Arena bombing.

On September 3, Billal searched for churches using Google Maps and viewed two Catholic churches in Manchester.

He conducted similar online expeditions on September 9; After examining the Trafford shopping centre, Manchester Convention Centre, Old Trafford stadium, home to Manchester United football club, and local universities, he searched for “Jewish” and examined synagogues in the local area.

The searches continued on 15, 16 and 17 September and on 30 September he returned to a school in Colne and an hour later asked how many rounds the AK-47 magazine held.

However, Billal ‘changed his focus’ after contacting a user named Abu Sayf ar-Rumi on the Simplex Chat app on 5 October, talking about the need to encourage ‘brothers to hijra’ (emigrate) to the Islamic State.

Billal said he bought ‘something’ and sent a gun emoji, a link to the Telegram channel of an online marketplace for firearms, and said he was ‘not 100 percent sure’ it was real but was ‘waiting for delivery’.

He revealed that he had spent £660 in Bitcoin upfront and paid £600 in cash on delivery, but also expected to receive £500 from crypto trading.

On October 7, he texted Rumi to discuss travel options to Somalia, including the option of flying via Dubai to give officials the impression that they would be vacationing in Dubai.

The next day, Billal sent a message saying “I think I’m ready, I bought 1.367” because the firearms dealer gave him a partial refund.

On November 7, Billal was contacted by another user from the Simplex Chat application, and Billal advised him to put music and football players on his phone, saying “Do not leave anything from Islam”, and Billal then searched the internet for “Ronaldo wallpaper”, which refers to the Portuguese football player.

On 20 November 2024, Billal was stopped at Manchester Airport on his way to Dubai and his iPhone was examined.

Four copies of Rumiyah, an online magazine published by the Islamic State, were identified and he was arrested and questioned but later released on bail.

However, when police examined the phone further, they found details of the arms purchase and Billal was arrested again on February 11 last year.

Billal told police he was not a violent person and had gone on holiday to Ethiopia to get ‘some sunshine’.

He was sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison after admitting two charges of preparation for terrorist acts and four charges of possessing material useful for terrorism.

The court heard Billal was an Italian national of Pakistani origin and moved to England when he was 13, but he suffered from autism and became isolated, failing most of his GCSEs, dropping out of school and rarely leaving his room.

The judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said he was motivated by Islamic State ideology and a desire for martyrdom and was ‘ready to kill people in the UK’.

He said the change of plan was not because he abandoned terrorism, but because ‘you changed direction’.

The court heard that even when Billal was released on bail, he immediately wanted to book another flight but did not have a bank card.

Prison Officers searching Billal’s cell at HMP Wormwood Scrubs on April 16 last year found an envelope bearing a drawing of the ISIS flag and handwritten content extolling the cause of the Islamic State, as well as a piece of card bearing the words ‘Anjem Choudhury HMP Milton’, a reference to jailed extremist preacher Anjem Choudary.

Detective Superintendent Jon Chadwick, chief of North West Counter Terrorism Police, said: ‘The offenses for which Mohammed Billal was convicted are among the most serious charges that can be leveled against a person.

Our investigation into his actions was conducted meticulously and we were able to collect evidence showing a definite intention to engage in terrorist acts.

‘Although he may have shifted his focus from committing an act of terrorism in the UK to committing a crime in another country, the level of detail he investigated in preparation for an attack here demonstrates the risk he presented to the public.’