Pair convicted after giving money to Brussels bomb suspect

Two men from Birmingham raised money for international terrorism which may have included partly funding the devastating attacks on Paris and Brussels.

Zakaria Boufassil, 26, and Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 27, handed over thousands of pounds to one of the main suspects in the Paris and Brussels atrocities, just months before the attack on the French capital in November 2015.

A jury at Kingston Crown Court in London found Boufassil guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism.

Ahmed pleaded guilty to the same charge at the start of the trial.

The court was told how Mohamed Abrini, 31, who became known as the "man in the hat" after he was captured on CCTV at Brussels airport on the day of the bombing there, had travelled to the UK in July 2015 to collect the money from his two British contacts .

Boufassil and Ahmed handed over £3,000 to Abrini in a Birmingham park.

The two men had taken elaborate measures to evade detection during Abrini's visit between 9 July and 16 July last year.

Expert analysis revealed that the phones being used by all three men converged on Small Heath Park in Birmingham on 10 July, the day before the cash was handed over.

Max Hill QC, prosecuting counsel, said Ahmed and Boufassil appear to have been watching Abrini in order to check he was not being followed.

"There can be no doubt that the money was handed over with the intention of assisting acts of terrorism," he added.

The jury was told Abrini, a Belgian citizen of Moroccan descent, had been sent to collect the money by Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is suspected of being one of the ringleaders of the attacks across the French capital just months later in which 130 people were killed.

The cash had been withdrawn from the bank account of Anouar Haddouchi, another Belgian national, who had been living in the West Midlands and claiming housing benefit.

Haddouchi had left the UK to join the terrorist group IS in Syria. But even though he was no longer in Britain, regular benefits payments were still being deposited into his account.

Abrini's involvement in the November 2015 Paris terror attacks remains under investigation by the French authorities but it could take another four years before he faces trial, according to Belgian prosecutors.

Abrini then allegedly went on to help with the attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station on March 22 this year, which killed 32 people.

He became notorious when police released security camera images of him at the airport, wearing a distinctive hat and pushing a luggage trolley next to the two suicide bombers.

Part of the evidence in the case against the two Birmingham men came from Belgian police interviews with Abrini after his arrest earlier this year.

As well as admitting that he had travelled to collect money in the UK, he also confirmed he had visited Manchester, taking pictures of Manchester United's ground at Old Trafford, as well as shopping centres and casinos around Birmingham.

But he denied any knowledge of planned terror attacks in Britain, suggesting this country was too well protected.

In police interview transcripts, he said: "I think England has a more developed secret service, better observation techniques. And it's therefore more difficult to attack."

Margaret Gilmore, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said it was certainly true to say Britain's security services have an international reputation as being among the best in the world, but that it would be nonsense to suggest the UK was not on the terrorists' target list.

The two Birmingham men, Zakaria Boufassil and Mohammed Ali Ahmed, are now facing lengthy jail terms when they are sentenced next week.

Prosecutors said the case at Kingston Crown Court had provided insight into the multiple, complex links that make up international terror cells and illustrated how those behind terrorist funding were just as culpable for the carnage that is caused.