A gang of four jihadists who called themselves the Three Musketeers during online group chats have all been sentenced to life in prison.
Naweed Ali, 29, Mohibur Rahman, 33, Khobaib Hussain, 25, and Tahir Aziz, 38, were found guilty of planning a “mass casualty attack.”
When police officers apprehended the plotters in August last year, they discovered a partially assembled pipe-bomb and a meat cleaver that the terrorists planned to use in their attack.
Justice Globe, delivering the sentence, said it was only due to the prompt reaction of undercover law enforcement agents that the terrorist attack was prevented. Otherwise, it would have resulted in a “considerable loss of life,” he said.
The purpose of the terrorist plot was “to kill or injure and cause terror” and “to promote an anti-Western ideology.”
The gang, who were guided by a “long-standing, radical, violent ideology,” refused to appear in court for their sentencing.
Ali, Hussain and Rahman, who were the key plotters and would be executioners of the attack, all received life sentences with a minimum of 20 years in prison.
Aziz was given a minimum term of 15 years in prison.