Khan’s old co-conspirator was key figure in 2010 plot
NAZAM HUSSAIN, who was last night arrested, was Usman Khan’s closest coconspirator in the 2010 plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange.
Their parents came from the same village in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, and despite Hussain being five years older than Khan, they were close friends growing up in Stoke-on-trent.
A fellow disciple of the hate preacher Anjem Choudary and his al-muhajiroun group, Hussain was a key figure in the terror gang that became known as the “Nine Lions”.
The complex plot, for which all nine were later convicted, involved plans to set off bombs at the London Stock Exchange and also at pubs around Stoke.
In addition, the three gangs, from Stoke, Cardiff and London, were planning to establish a terrorist training camp in Kashmir on land owned by Khan’s family.
Hussain and Khan had been planning to travel there in January 2011 to start establishing the school.
All nine men were arrested in a series of coordinated raids in December 2010, just weeks before Hussain and Khan were due to travel to Pakistan.
At their sentencing hearing in February 2012, Mr Justice Wilkie described them as “the more serious and effective terrorists” of the group.
They were given indeterminate sentences for public protection. But in April 2013, they successfully appealed and were given 16-year sentences, which meant they were both eligible for release in December last year.
While Khan moved to Stafford, Hussain returned to his family home in Stoke. Last night he was back in custody.