Al-Qaeda ‘propaganda expert’ arrested in London

He is said to have “facilitated communications and provided expert advice and
assistance in photography and graphic design” for AQAP’s media wing.

He allegedly met two American citizens, referred to only as “American CC-1”
and “American CC-2”, working with the former to produce online propaganda
for AQAP.

At the time Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, both of whom were US citizens,
were running the propaganda operation for AQAP which included the notorious
on-line magazine called “Inspire.”

The first edition of the slickly-produced magazine included a recipe called
“How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom” by the “al-Qaeda Chef” which
has been found in the hands of a number of terrorist suspects in Britain.
Both men were killed in a drone attack in September last year.

The Americans say that Pham and his associates provided “personnel, property,
services, facilities, communications equipment, expert advice and
assistance, training and weapons.”

In return, he allegedly received training from AQAP last March in the use of
an automatic Kalashnikov assault rifle and for the next four months carried
and used the firearm as part of his training.

The charges say that Pham knew that AQAP “had engaged and was engaging in
terrorist activity.” He now faces life in jail in the US.

His arrest comes as Jonathan Evans, the director general of MI5, warned last
week that Yemen has become a destination for a small number of British
“would-be jihadis” seeking to use the Arab Spring for training and militant
activity.

Janice Fedarcyk, Assistant Director-in-Charge at the FBI said: “The defendant
not only allegedly pledged an oath to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and
received military training from AQAP, he also helped design and disseminate
its propaganda.

“The investigation that led to this indictment is the result of the kind of
cooperation and coordination, domestically and internationally, that is
essential in the effort to prevent acts of terrorism.”

Preet Bharara, US Attorney for Manhattan, New York, praised the “extraordinary
cooperation” of the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and the FBI’s
Washington Field Office who worked with the Metropolitan Police and the
Crown Prosecution Service in Britain to secure the arrest.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Pham, who is wanted in the US for
terrorism related offences, was arrested in the UK on 29 June and has been
remanded in custody. He will appear in court in due course.”

Vietnam has 63,146 Muslims according to the 1999 census, less than one per
cent of the population, three quarters of them living in the South East of
the country and largely from the Cham ethnic group, who are related to
Malays.

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