Daesh facilitator sentenced to jail for eight years

LONDON: The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly known as Old Bailey, sentenced a Daesh facilitator, identified as 34-year-old Samata Ullah, to eight years imprisonment on Tuesday.

Samata Ullah, who hails from Cardiff, was convicted on various offences of terrorism including facilitating Daesh, terrorist training, instigation of terrorism, and possession of material on missile guidance.

According to Metropolitan police, the convict was sentenced to “four years' imprisonment for membership of a proscribed organisation; eight years, with a five year extension period, imprisonment a charge of terrorist training and a separate charge of preparation for terrorism; six years' imprisonment for possession of an article - namely a USB cufflink - for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism.”

Alongside, he was convicted for “six years' imprisonment for possession of articles - namely a book about guided missiles and a PDF version of a book about advanced missile guidance and control - for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism.” All the sentences will run concurrently.

Tracking down convict

Samata Ullah was arrested from his house on September 22, last year, during an operation of intelligence agencies and Met Police Counter Terrorism Command. Around 200 pieces of evidence, including 150 digital devices were seized from his house; devices contained eight terabytes of data.

The operation was conducted after security agencies had received information from the Kenyan Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Police; who had arrested another suspect on April 29, last year, who was in regular contact with Samata Ullah.

More than 100 detectives worked on tracking down Samata Ullah’s activities and it was established that suspect who assist others with similar mindset and taught them how to hide their actions and communications.

Speaking about the convict, Commander Dean Haydon, MPS Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Just because Ullah's activity was in the virtual world we never underestimated how dangerous his activity was. He sat in his bedroom in Wales and created online content with the sole intention of aiding people who wanted to actively support ISIS and avoid getting caught by the authorities.”

Moreover, Detective Superintendent Lee Porter - Head of WECTU, explained that Samata Ullah’s activities came as a surprise for people close to him.