Lancashire man jailed for terrorism offences

A man from Lancashire has been jailed for posting extremist material online.

Mohammed Afzal has been jailed for 3 years and 9 months after pleading guilty to to four offences relating to the dissemination of terrorist publications (contrary to section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006) and four offences relating to the collection of terrorist information (contrary to section 58 of TACT 2000).

Counter Terrorism Policing North West (CTPNW) led the investigation, supported by Lancashire Constabulary, into the online activities of Afzal after he was found to be posting extremist related material on social media.

In June 2022, he was arrested on suspicion of encouraging terrorism and the dissemination of terrorist publications, and a number of electronic devices were seized from his home address. He refused to provide the passcodes for the seized devices and was released under investigation.

A number of terrorist related documents were identified on his devices.

He was rearrested in October 2022 on suspicion of collecting and disseminating terrorist material but refused to answer any questions during his interview.

He pleaded guilty to all 8 counts against him at Liverpool Crown Court in February 2023.

Andy Meeks, Detective Superintendent at Counter Terrorism Policing North West, said: “CTPNW is working tirelessly to ensure that people like Afzal are identified, arrested, and brought before the courts. We will not accept any action that attempts to divide our communities and will hold to account anyone who seeks to incite hatred.

“The public are key to helping us achieve this and I would encourage anyone who is aware of extremist material online – whether that be posts, websites, or any activity of concern – to report it to police so we can act on it.”

Image: John Bradley, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons