Oldham Couple Jailed Over Terror Charges

19 July 2012, 14:27 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Shasta and Mohammed Khan from Oldham have been jailed over a plot to make bombs and target Manchester.

38 year old Hairdresser Shasta and her husband 34 year old Mohammed Sajid Khan are thought to have been in the early stages of building an improvised explosive device to target Jewish communities in Manchester. 

Shasta was found guilty and jailed for eight years. Mohammed Sajid Khan pleaded guilty and was given an indeterminate sentence for public protection but will serve a minimum of seven and a half years before being considered eligible for parole. 

The couple married just six weeks after they met on an Internet dating site, and just a few months later were actively listening to and reading extremist Al Qaeda-inspired material. 

Between March and July 2011, the couple began to access online bomb-making manuals and acquired everyday household items which could be used to construct a viable, and deadly, explosive device.

It is believed they were preparing to carry out a terrorist attack in Britain, with the most likely target being the Jewish communities of Manchester. 

Evidence of the couple driving around these communities to look at possible targets in these areas was found, along with extremist literature espousing anti-Semitic and violent jihadist beliefs.

Their plan was unravelled after police were initially called to reports of a domestic assault, but a family member said they thought possible terrorist acts were being committed an investigation was launched. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Anthony Mole, head of the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit said: "Mohammed Sajid Khan and his wife Shasta devised a plot to acquire the ingredients, equipment and the know-how to build a viable explosive device.

"Armed with that knowledge, what we recovered from their home suggested they were in the preparatory stages of assembling that device from various component parts and, disturbingly, were driving around Jewish communities in the Manchester area looking at possible targets."