REVEALED: Terrorists use fake Taxi badges

Stock Exchange bomb plotter Abdul Miah in Wales taxi terror alert probe

Terror bomb plotters (l-r) Gurukanth Desai, Abdul Miah, both of Cardiff, and Mohammed Chowdhury and Shah

TODAY we can reveal how a terrorist at the centre of an al-Qaeda-inspired plot to bomb the Stock Exchange was investigated by police in the months leading to his arrest amid fears he could target locations in Wales by posing as a taxi driver.


Radical Islamist Abdul Miah, from Cardiff, will be sentenced today after pleading guilty last Wednesday to planning to plant an improvised explosive device in the financial nerve centre’s toilets.


In an intriguing twist, he was arrested in 2010 just days after eagle-eyed council staff called in the police over the would-be terrorist’s dud IDs.


South Wales Police’s Anti-Terrorism Unit had warned the Vale of Glamorgan workers about issuing hackney carriage or private hire driver’s licences because they could help people access potential high-profile terror targets.


Restricted sites, such as Aberthaw Power Station, which generates electricity for 1.5 million homes, or the Dow Corning chemical plant in Barry, were identified in the 2009 warning presentation.


Experts say a fake taxi licence application attempt such as Miah’s could have been a “way of trying not to raise attention and suspicion”.


Valentina Soria, from the Royal United Services Institute, said terrorists may attempt to secure a taxi licences to gain access to high-profile terror targets.


“Having access to specific areas and in this case getting fake IDs would be really, really useful,” said the research analyst. “It is a way of trying not to raise attention and suspicion. This is a very successful, clever way of getting around surveillance.”


Ms Soria urged authorities and companies at risk of terror attacks to carry out effective background checks on personnel.


Terror plot exposed


THE fundamentalist group possessed the al-Qaeda magazine Inspire, which contained a feature entitled Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom.


They were inspired by the terror network’s online propaganda, specifically al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).


But anti-terror police forces managed to stop the group before firm dates could be set for attacks.


Editorial Comment:

We have asked the question before:
How long before suicide bombers driving minicabs with fake IDs, sit amongst the lines of  LTPH licensed PH drivers, touting outside major night venues in London?


We saw the failed attempts outside Tiger Tiger and in Cockspur Street and thought, security would be tightened up. We thought that would be the end of this illegal practise. But we were wrong.
The very next day the lines of touts, were back outside.


The problem now escalates to a new level.


We have been informed by the Safer Travel Intelligence Unit of the Met Police that hundreds of fake licensed Taxi bills and IDs are being used by fake Taxi drivers. The bills have been on offer in London Pubs for more than 18 months. Remember the crash at Victoria where the driver absconded and has never been traced since!


LTPHs answer is to issue pathetic, cheap, ID badges, which can be copied on a scanner and printed in minutes.


Where is this charade going to end?


Probably with mass fatalities amongst innocent late night revellers, outside a major venue such as the Grosvenor House Hotel.