The Attack: Terror in the UK

This programme contains some violent scenes and strong language

The thing that still keeps me awake at night

is the prospect of a marauding firearms terrorist attack.

It's a constant anxiety of those who are working on counterterrorism.

A lot of people can be killed in a very short time span, you know,

using automatic weapons.

It's an attack that's very hard to counter, obviously,

unless you can prevent it.

In Afghanistan, in al-Qaeda's camps,

we were given a course called Harb al-Mudun

which in Arabic means urban warfare.

It is actually nothing short of urban terrorism.

Teaching you how to storm a cinema or a shopping mall and how to

horde people into a kill zone.

The first minute is all about shoot anyone in sight.

The following minutes is search and destroy.

Or, in this case, search and kill.

People who have gone to Syria, returning foreign fighters,

are the super terrorists.

They are the terrorists who actually know what they are doing.

They are the terrorists who have fought, who have been trained,

who can organise complex attacks.

That's why they are particularly dangerous.

We have put a high number of individuals into prison for terrorist offences.

Terrorists in prison can radicalise young, vulnerable criminals

to their cause and then incite them, encourage them,

to go and commit terrorist attacks when they get released.

There's an opportunity for terrorists to exploit criminals in prison,

criminal gangs have far more access to firearms than most of our terrorists do.

If you imagine being a small-time criminal,

the idea of immediate transformation, the idea of becoming a hero,

is something that can be incredibly empowering.

He would have embraced this idea that these people, who he is targeting,

are not fellow humans.

They are animals, they are cattle to be slaughtered.

You only have the capability to monitor a small number of individuals at any one time.

You do not have the resources to surveil hundreds, if not thousands,

of individuals. So, it's all about, you know, the tip of the iceberg.

The assessment currently, and has been for some time now,

is that it's highly likely that a terrorist attack will take place in

this country.

DOOR LOCK BUZZES

-MAN:

-Step through.

Wait.

Move it.

Stop.

Face the wall.

Face the wall!

DOOR LOCK BUZZES

Step through.

Upstairs.

Prisoner on.

OTHER PRISONERS JEER

Move it.

Faster than that.

Stop. Face the wall.

Get in there.

HE EXHALES

'B Wing. Association. Unlock.'

MURMUR OF VOICES

Give us that.

Give us a fag.

You twat, give me that.

Salaam-Alaikum.

Nurofen.

Are you Muslim, bruv?

My door's open.

Anything you need, yeah?

MAN GROANS

GROANS CONTINUE

WHISTLE BLOWS

New boy. Come here.

I want no trouble, bruv.

How long you in for?

Four.

I did two in Cookham, got two months left them I'm out.

Ahmed.

What's your name, bruv?

-Joseph.

-Yusuf.

You're all right, he ain't going to bother you no more.

That your boy?

Yeah, Duane.

Sweet kid.

Are you still with his mum?

I want to be.

But she's had it with me. I did some stupid things.

I fucked my life up, bruv.

Allah forgives.

What are you in for?

-Selling brown.

-You got four for that?

No. Had a clock on me when I got nicked.

Yeah, as a brother, selling to the kaffir is halal.

This is our jihad, weakening the kaffir.

Whatever, man. Allah's not going to forgive me.

Past don't justify the future, Yusuf.

In Islam, the only thing that matters is the last thing you do.

You could be a good Muslim all your life, but screw it up in the end.

If you're a coward right before you die, you're going to hellfire.

What you do before death...

..that's what you get judged by.

Yeah, do right by Him, at the last minute...

..and it's Jannah.

Paradise.

That's what it says in the Koran.

Come here, bruv.

Allahu Akbar.

Allahu Akbar.

Allahu Akbar.

PRAYER CONTINUES

Come meet Omar. I told him about your cousin, he knows you're cool.

He's there. Yeah.

-There he is. Assalaamu Alaikum.

-Wa alaykumu as-salam.

Want to jump in the wheel?

Yeah, man.

How come I ain't seen you before, akhi?

I've been up in Luton with family.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-What's that like?

-Pretty shit, to be honest.

What do you want?

I got robbed by some black boys.

Need to go get what I'm owed.

-Which crew they with?

-They ain't with a crew.

So why you telling me this?

Rahim says you know someone with a piece.

He's going round saying it?

It's cool, bruv, I'll ask someone else, yeah?

Hey, get back in, fam.

-How'd you know Rahim?

-He knows people my cousin knew.

Your cuz went?

-Yeah.

-When?

-Year ago.

-How's he doing?

I don't know.

Two of my akhis out there now.

Yeah? Seriously, who?

Known them since I was a kid.

Like brothers to me. Look.

Oh, man.

Masha Allah.

I want to go so bad, you know?

They reckon you can't get in, though.

War is here as well, bruv.

State of war.

You hear me? I hear you, fam.

Hey, man's got to go.

See what I can do, though. Inshallah.

Hey, give me your number, bruv.

Nah, fam.

I'll text Rahim.

Safe, yeah?

DOOR LOCK BEEPS

PHONE RINGS

Yeah.

Sit down.

Come on, then. The suspense is killing me.

I met Omar Nawaz Khan last night.

The one in Newham.

He told me he's got access to tools.

Right, long or short?

Mag-10s, that's what I've heard.

But you haven't actually clapped eyes on it?

-I'm trying.

-Who does he hang around with?

Any known extremists?

Nah, he's a dealer, but apparently he knows people out in Syria.

-Who?

-Don't know.

Well, they all say they know someone out in Syria.

Has he got any Al-Muhajiroun connections, or the like?

No, but, look, he loves all that Daesh stuff.

Sounds like we should just bump it down to Trident.

Let them do him on a gun buy or a drugs buy.

I think we should keep it, guv.

Do you know how many jobs I'm running?

We had the tasking meeting here this morning and I'm struggling to keep

the two surveillance teams that I've got on a big job.

-Look, give me another week on him, don't need surveillance yet.

-Yeah, but then next week you will.

Come on, then. Put him on the system.

-You got a codename for him?

-I'm already on it, boss.

-And what is it?

-Computer Mix.

-What?

-It's the name, it's what it gave me.

Fucking hell.

There is no God but Allah.

Mohammed is the messenger of God.

HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC LANGUAGE

Yusuf REPEATS

No other gods.

HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC LANGUAGE Yusuf REPEATS

That's it.

Welcome, brother.

How do you feel?

Yeah.

-Yeah, good.

-Yeah, man.

-Good.

-When you're living with no cause, you know, you get up,

you go out, you try and make as much paper as you can,

sleep with as many girls as you can, all of that.

But now you've got a cause, bruv, like me.

-Thank you, man.

-Don't thank me.

Thank Allah.

-How?

-With your deeds.

Yusuf.

You still know people with tools?

Yeah, I can get them.

When I get out, yeah?

Maybe we can stand before Allah, together.

Inshallah.

'The Koran teaches us that forgiveness for an ill deed is much'

more honourable than revenge.

To be a true Muslim only non-violent action is acceptable.

Those who go out to fight in Syria are mistaken.

You sit there dissing our brothers who are doing His will?

-You're a sell-out.

-Please.

No talking during khutbah.

Ah, I'm going to give the khutbah. You can go, mate.

I am your imam.

Not ours. You stand with the kaffir.

I'm reporting you to the governor.

Yeah? Well, you tell him that akhis don't want his house Muslim corner-shop boy here.

Go on.

DOOR CLOSES

HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC LANGUAGE

Allah loves us.

That's why he chose us, yeah?

But the second we stop carrying the banner of Islam,

we go from the best

to the lowest of the low.

The prophets said, "Fight the kaffir until there is no more fitna."

Fight the kaffir until there is no more fitna.

That's it.

That's why I went to fight.

That's what we all got to do, brothers.

DOOR OPENS

Khan.

I'm not done praying.

-That's my right.

-Come on.

Don't fucking touch me.

One phone call.

Wallahi. That's all it takes for the brothers to pay you a home visit.

Now fuck off.

Right. Prisons team.

-What we on?

-Ahmed Kaled Khan in HMP Frankland.

Up for release week after next.

So far has refused all Prevent interventions.

So he's coming out on licence?

No, he's served his time in full.

He's not a TACT offender.

We had strong intel he was in Syria, but we couldn't prove it.

-So what's he in for?

-Harassment.

CPS were lawfully audacious.

-Has he been pitched?

-Yeah,

he was pitched by our lot right after his scheduled seven when he got back from Syria.

Sorry, his "holiday in Turkey".

-Told us to eff off.

-And what we got?

No sign his views have changed.

He didn't see eye to eye with the imams, surprise, surprise.

There was concern he was radicalising other inmates.

All right. I think we should have another crack at him.

Have a seat, Ahmed.

And you are?

I work in counterterrorism.

From what I've heard, Ahmed, you've got a lot of influence in here...

..and you will have when you get out.

You're respected by a lot of foreign fighters who've come back.

I think you could help us with some information.

Like what?

Well, there are incentives, of course.

The more significant the information, the greater they are.

You put me in here for two years for harassment!

And now you want me to work for you?

See, personally, I don't like control orders, or TPIMs, I should say.

Very tough. A judge might say - no mobile phone, no online access,

no visitors, can only leave your house at certain times.

Talk about restricted liberty, you've got more bloody freedom in here.

But our Home Secretary...

..she's all for them.

Especially in a case like yours.

Leave me alone for a few days when I get out.

And I'll give it some thought, yeah?

Guard!

DOOR CLOSES

Be careful when you get out, yeah?

Feds are going to be watching you.

Feds don't scare me.

I need to know you're with me.

Yeah, course I am.

I need to know you won't turn your back on me,

on our cause, on Allah.

You know I won't.

I get out a week after you.

That's fate, Yusuf.

That's a sign.

Are you ready?

I want to prove myself to Him.

Good.

Cos I've talked to Majid about you.

-Our brother in Raqqa.

-Yeah?

Yusuf, even that emir knows your name.

I want to go. Why can't we go?

Because he's chosen an even greater honour for you and me.

If they fight you,

then kill them.

Such is the recompense of the disbeliever.

We don't need to go to Syria to do that.

We can meet Allah right here.

Inshallah.

MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYING

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION AND LAUGHTER

Hey, Kay.

Let me call you later, yeah?

You can't stay here, Jo.

-Please.

-No.

This is the address I gave for my licence.

What did you do that for?

Cos I want to see him, Kay.

One week. That's it, and then you've got to go somewhere else.

-And what's with the beard?

-I've converted.

-Fuck off.

-No, seriously.

-I'm Muslim now.

-You what?

Starting over, Kay.

It's a new me.

Look at you.

What's wrong, you don't recognise your dad?

Come, give me a hug.

Come on.

Come on.

I need a tech, bruv.

TEXT ALERT

INDISTINCT PRAYER

INDISTINCT CONVERSATION

-Salaam-Alaikum.

-You all right?

-You seen Omar?

-No, gone to town, innit.

He didn't help you with that thing, no?

Nah.

Tell him I'm looking for him, yeah?

Safe.

SHIP'S HORN SOUNDS

SEAGULLS CRY

-It worked, then.

-Yeah.

When I sent it, I was worried you didn't look enough like me.

We all look the same to them, bruv.

ENGINE STARTS

Hey, what happened with Computer Mix?

-No show.

-Right, well, that's that, then.

Get someone from Trident to wrap him up cos I need you over on Mike's job

-in Barking, OK?

-OK.

TEXT ALERT

Yeah, it's Mo.

Listen, Computer Mix just texted me.

Yeah, I'm going to forward you his number.

Can we run some movement analysis on him?

INDISTINCT SOUNDTRACK ON VIDEO

TEXT ALERT

Hey, little man.

-How was school?

-It was OK.

-Good, good.

-I'm leaving him with you tonight, yeah?

TEXT ALERT

Give him some fish fingers, they're in the freezer, and some oven chips,

-but he doesn't like them too well done.

-Yeah.

-Where you off to?

-Out.

See you later, yeah?

-What you watching?

-Nothing, don't worry about it.

TEXT ALERT Right, you know what to do.

DOORBELL RINGS

DOOR OPENS

Assalaamu Alaikum.

I live at number 58.

I'm really sorry to ask, but do you mind minding my boy for just one hour?

I've got an emergency.

Yeah? Thank you, thank you so much.

-Be good, OK?

-Bye.

-Bye.

DOOR BUZZER

Malek. You and Abdul will start on the upper level.

When you start shooting, go in opposite directions.

You, clockwise. Abdul, anticlockwise.

So you're driving the kaffir into each other and down.

That way you get a maximum kill ratio.

Me and Yusuf will be on the ground floor doing the same.

If you're shooting a pistol, don't bother trying to slaughter kaffir,

unless they're up close. Don't matter how good a shot you think you are.

-You shot a gun before?

-Yeah.

Then when they're all running away, start mopping up.

-What does that mean?

-Finish off the wounded.

If you're low on ammo, use a blade,

but save a clip for when the feds turn up.

-How long are we going to have?

-Three or four minutes, bruv, at least,

maybe more.

Inshallah.

-What's that?

-Don't use it.

Don't turn it on till the day, all right?

Majid, our brother in Raqqa, is going to be messaging us, coordinating.

Yeah.

You know what's in your heart?

Yeah.

Good. Remember your love for the Messenger.

For Allah, yeah?

Yeah.

Why all the long faces?

We got the movement analysis back from Computer Mix.

He went to Harwich and back on Friday night.

-What's in Harwich?

-He was there at 10pm,

a P&O from the Hook Of Holland got in when he was there.

I've pulled a passenger list and we're waiting on CCTV from the terminal.

OK. So, what you thinking?

-Could be a returning we don't know about.

-Yeah, wouldn't be the first.

But there's more intel that's just come in from our liaison guy in Brussels.

-On the intel side?

-No, it's the Belgian police.

There was a firearms seizure last week by their serious crime unit,

four AKs, and one of the guys in custody had bought a ferry ticket to Dover.

Is there a link to anyone here?

GCHQ seems to think so, yeah.

So we're putting your man, Computer Mix, on a P1, start a full op on him, 24/7 surveillance.

Known associates, financial, social media, the lot.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

Kay.

What's going on?

Do you know what I had to do today?

I had to go and see Duane's teachers.

Cos he's been telling his mates about some videos you've been watching.

Isis videos.

It's sick.

It's fucking sick.

It's... It's not like that, yeah?

So what's it like?

-Just let me inside and I'll explain everything to you.

-No, no chance.

-You said one week.

-I changed my mind.

Anyway... I met someone else a year ago.

Don't act all surprised.

He's been a better dad to Duane than you ever was.

If you come back here again, without my say-so,

I'm going to call the police, yeah?

Kay, please...

Please. Just let me back in.

Kay, Kay!

She looked at me like I was dirty!

Like she hates me!

-Fucking bitch!

-The kaffir hate us, bruv.

That's the truth.

Look at Trump and his Muslim ban, all of that.

Some of them, they pretend, yeah, but that's how they really feel.

She wouldn't even let me explain.

You know why they hate us?

Because we got the light.

The prophet said, "He for whom Allah has not appointed light,

"there is no light."

Their world's so dark they can't even see their own hand in front of them.

What am I going to do about Duane?

He'll be with you, bruv,

by your side, shining in your heart,

in Jannah.

Joseph Mwembe.

Yusuf.

Salaam-Alaikum.

I've been asked to have a chat about what happened with Duane, at school.

That's bullshit, bruv.

-OK, forget about that.

-I know what this is all about.

Yeah, you're going to tell me how Islam's all about love and peace, yeah?

I'm going to tell you that I believe in jihad...

If the cause is just.

See, that's what I'm talking...

Do you know what the kaffir are doing right now in Syria?

Bombing kids. You're telling me fighting to save them ain't a just cause?

That don't mean that you have to go to Syria.

Who told you I want to go to Syria?

There are kids right here, in Hackney, that you can save.

-That's jihad.

-That's not jihad.

Look, you'll be doing the work of Allah right there.

I'm not going Syria or nothing like that.

All I want to do is see my boy.

-Is that OK?

-OK.

So let me help you.

-Yusuf?

-What?

Let's fight together on this.

Yeah?

Right, so Computer Mix goes to Harwich Friday night, picks up his cousin,

-Tariq Hussein Khan.

-So he must be a returnee?

Computer Mix said he knew people in Syria.

Well, cousin Tariq used his debit card in Asda in Stepney Green on

Tuesday. So unless it was a city break to the caliphate,

-then I don't think so.

-Has he used his card since?

Yeah.

Yeah, he bought a kiddies trampoline in Argos, yesterday.

Mo, you need to get in there, talk to Computer Mix again.

We should just arrest the cousin.

Yeah, but charge him with what? Having a drug dealer in the family?

There's nothing on his social media, either.

These are the guys we suspect of having travelled to Syria from Computer Mix's area.

All three of them were recruited by Ali Abdul Salah,

the guy from Birmingham.

Well, we can track Abdul Salah's messaging patterns now.

No, he was droned back in November, so good luck with that.

I don't think this is Tariq at all.

I think someone else came in on his passport.

What happened?

-I said 2.30.

-Sorry, bruv, had a nightmare with the car.

What you got on you?

-You carrying?

-No, bruv.

-Nothing feds could do you for?

-No.

Bit of cash, that's all.

All right, take the next left.

-It don't go nowhere, it's a dead end.

-I know.

Take it.

Computer Mix's passenger is IC4 male, mid 20s.

Get in.

Just go in the garage?

Yeah, this morning, stalled. It was dead.

Cable for the battery was fucked.

What the fuck?

Phone. Give me the phone!

What the fuck, fam!

You working for them?

Huh? You know what happens to people that do that?

Yeah.

Did you speak to anybody about me or Ahmed after the garage?

No, I swear!

HE PANTS

If you love Allah,

don't come near us.

No calls, messages, nothing.

-You get me?

-Yeah.

Come on. Three!

Nice, come on, one, two.

Come on. Harder, harder! Come on, come on, come on!

-All right, all right.

-One, two. Yes!

I am the kaffir!

I am the kaffir!

Come on. I am the kaffir!

PUNCHES MERGE WITH GUNSHOTS

What's this?

Pick up those tools we talked about, yeah?

We're going to need them.

Can I use the bathroom, please?

-Is Kaymar in?

-He's out the back.

-I heard you converted.

-Who told you that?

Someone going out with Kayla, innit.

So what, then?

No, blud, that was inside.

Meals are good,

get allowed to box five times a day,

the akhis look after you.

I don't want no comebacks, you know.

You see one of them Paki boys from Newham?

Man was asking me for a thing for weeks, fam.

-Yeah.

-I didn't give him nothing, you get me?

See, my man and his crew, they're pure nutters, fam.

Straight Jihadi Johns, you get me?

If it's a business thing, yo, that's cool.

But anything else, no, blud, that shit's fucked up.

How much lead you want?

What you got?

Bruv, is this a hit or what?

Bruv, he's tooled up. I just don't want to run out of caps, that's all.

Anything you don't use, fam, make sure you bring it back, yeah?

Armed police, armed police!

INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO CHATTER

Right, what we got from his phones?

I don't reckon we've got his main phone, boss,

-but there's a few numbers in the system on one of the burners we found.

-Go on, then.

-It's saved as K.

It comes up in Trident. Kaymar Williams,

it's in the system as Green Window.

-Should I have heard of him?

-He's an armourer.

He sold to the Woolwich boys and the Tooting lads a few months back.

Mike, Jon Idham, from 15.

Yeah, I need your boys to go and see a Kaymar Williams.

Green Window.

Yeah, go do a gun buy on him, urgent.

Yeah. Yeah, extremely fucking critical.

OK. Yeah, thanks, mate.

Cheers, bye.

-Right, what else?

-He messaged a phone in County Durham on Thursday.

Ahmed Kaled Khan.

Oh, my new mate? We're running a job on him, aren't we?

-Electronic only.

-Well, let's get eyes on him now.

Jon? Yep, we've got a possible location on Ahmed Kaled Khan.

BANGING

Armed police! Stay down!

Get on the floor! Stay down! Show me your hands!

Keep your hands where I can see them, do exactly as I tell you!

-Clear!

-Clear!

OK. Turn over onto your stomach.

Do it now!

Keep your arms behind your back.

TV ON IN BACKGROUND

-TV:

-'Four men have been arrested on suspicion of committing offences under the Terrorism Act.

'Seven properties and a number of vehicles are being

'searched. Detectives say it's part of an ongoing investigation.

'Our home affairs correspondent, June Kelly, is with me.

'What more do we know about this?

'Well, these were early morning raids, Sophie.

'They're a mixture of homes and businesses...'

PHONE RINGS

Hello?

What's happening?

Yeah, am I still doing it?

Yeah. OK, OK, mate.

-Jon?

-Yeah?

-GCHQ matched messaging patterns of a telegram user in Raqqa

with three phones here.

One's been used in and around the Carpenters Estate in Newham.

-And the others?

-County Durham, a week ago.

-Well, it's Khan.

-Most likely, yeah.

-Any content?

-On the prison phone, yeah.

We got round the end of the encryption. This is a transcript.

Well, half of this is in Arabic.

What the fuck is...alb-wa-govea?

Translation's on the next page.

-"The Westgate."

-Analysts think it might be code for a mall attack.

Like Westgate in Kenya.

Dad!

Duane!

Oi.

I thought I told you to call before you come here?

Yeah. I thought you'd be at your mum's.

What you doing here?

-I'm just really sorry, babe.

-Oh, don't.

Just don't.

Come, Duane, our pizza's getting cold.

Why can't Dad eat with us?

Come here.

Duane.

-I love you, Duane. And I will eat with you in Jannah.

-Where's Jannah?

Duane!

I won't tell you again.

Go on, you be a good boy for Mum.

Go.

Duane.

I love you.

DOOR SHUTS

HE SIGHS

-Salaam-Alaikum.

-Salaam-Alaikum.

TV ON

Two weeks ago he just shows up, out of nowhere, and then he pulls this.

What? Yeah, it's fucking weird is what.

I don't know, babe.

-Mum, look!

-I'm on the phone, yeah.

It's from Dad.

Hold on.

Let me call you back.

Does that mean we're not going to see him again?

I want you to go in there, stay there and don't leave, OK?

I'll be back in a minute.

Jo?

Call me back.

The guy who was in with Ahmed Khan, Joseph Mwembe.

Mohammed's just tailed him onto the underground, eastbound.

It's MTFA. Got to be.

'This is Stratford. Please mind the gap.'

Please, please.

Don't do this to us.

Just call me back, please.

SHE SOBS

PHONE KEYPAD BEEPS

-'Emergency, what service?'

-Police.

Yes, police.

CLICKING

GUN COCKS

Terrorism is never, in my view, inevitable.

It can be prevented through highly effective intelligence agencies,

working with highly proficient, professional police agencies.

It is not inevitable.

The UK has been remarkably successful at disrupting terrorism.

12, 13 prevented attacks in the last 18 months.

There are hundreds of investigations, covert investigations,

going on at any one time against individuals who are extremists and

potentially terrorists.

A vital component is to get the support of the majority of the Muslim community,

you know, the 95, 98% of the Muslims in this country who are supportive of the values of

this country, who do not subscribe to Isis ideology or al-Qaeda

ideology, but who really want to see an end to this terrorism.