A CONVICTED terrorist who had fought with the Taliban and used the email address 'osamawanbe@hotmail.co.uk' has been ordered to pay back £500k in legal costs.
Farooqi also said that jihad was not just about giving your life away but making sure they took forty to fifty people with them.
Munir Farooqi (main image), 57, of Victoria Terrace, Longsight, was ordered at Manchester Crown Court on Friday 23 May 2014 to pay back £400k in legal aid and £100k towards prosecution costs.
Detective Superintendent Julian Richardson said:
"Munir Farooqi was convicted and sentenced in 2011 of preparation for terrorist acts overseas, three counts of soliciting to murder and dissemination of terrorist publications and given four life sentences."
"The £500k costs order should draw to a conclusion this protracted and complex investigation into the most serious offences that threatened the lives of coalition Forces overseas. Munir Farooqi threatened to kill 40-50 military personnel when planning his attacks.
"The ruling provides some redress to the state for the significant cost to the public purse and hopefully acts as a deterrent to those considering terrorist acts."
Malik (left), Newton (second from right) and Farooqi (right)
Pakistani-born Farooqi, along with Israr Malik, 26, and Matthew Newton, 33, whom Farooqi had recruited for terror activities, were exposed after undercover officers, deployed in 2008 and 2009, infiltrated their attempts to groom vulnerable men to travel to training camps and battlefields abroad, where they would fight coalition forces.
The group used religious stalls - known as 'dawah stalls' - in the Longsight and city centre areas to target vulnerable people and after converting them to the Islamic faith, radicalised them using terrorist literature, CDs and DVDs.
The group would then groom the recruits to commit violent jihad abroad. Farooqi would also use his own 'war stories' from his 2001 imprisonment in Afghanistan for fighting alongside the Taliban to impress new recruits.
When speaking with one of the undercover officers in 2009, Farooqi told him about firing a rocket launcher in Afghanistan and that when a bullet fired hits the chest, 'It's a beautiful feeling you can't describe.'
Farooqi also said that jihad was not just about giving your life away but making sure they took forty to fifty people with them. He said he wanted to die on the battlefield as a martyr and the time would be soon.
The undercover officers recorded many conversations during the operation and then met with their handlers to transcribe what they had heard. In total, the officers wrote more than 6,000 pages of transcripts.
Farooqi fought alongside the Taliban
Munir was born in Pakistan and moved to England about 50 years ago. He lived at Victoria Terrace with his wife, two daughters and son Harris. The house has four levels, with three rooms in the basement he used to store thousands of terrorist books, DVDs and CDs.
On 4 September 2003, he was stopped at Manchester Airport and said that in October 2001 he went to the Peshawar area of Pakistan where he was supplied with a rifle and bullets and fought against the Taliban.
Farooqi said he was caught and imprisoned at Sheberghan Prison in Afghanistan and remained captive between November 2001 and May 2002. He was released by Pakistan Air Force troops and then eventually returned to the UK.
When he was stopped in 2003, he was returning from a holiday in Pakistan. He was found in possession of a number of photos taken from the mountainous Swat area of men holding rifles. Munir's passport was seized during the investigation and showed he regularly visited Muslim countries.
After the lengthy investigation four men were arrested by the North West Counter Terrorist Unit on 16 November 2009.
Munir Ahmed Farooqi was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism, three counts of soliciting to murder, dissemination of terrorist publications and sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of nine years before becoming eligible for parole.
Matthew Ronald Newton of Stockport Road, Levenshulme, was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and two counts of dissemination of terrorist publications and sentenced to six years.
Israr Hussain Malik of Bowdon Avenue, Fallowfield, was convicted of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and two counts of soliciting to murder and received an indeterminate sentence. It will be five years before he is eligible for parole.
