An ISIS recruiter who tried to radicalise strangers over Facebook is in prison after someone sent screenshots to police

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February 26, 2018 3:51 PM

Mohammed Kamal Hussain sent a message to someone hoping they would become a jihadist. They told the authorities instead.

Mohammed Kamal Hussain has been convicted of terrorism offences.
He had been sending messages to people online telling them to join ISIS.
He got caught when one person reported him and sent screenshots.
Hussain was jailed for seven years at a court hearing on Monday.

A 28-year-old ISIS recruiter has been put in jail for seven years after his attempt to radicalise someone over Facebook backfired.

Mohammed Kamal Hussain, from east London, had been messaging strangers on social media in the hope that some of them would become terrorists.

But evidence in his court hearing shows that one such message ended up landing him in prison, after the recipient of the unprompted message reported him to UK authorities.

The person, who hasn't been named, took screenshots of messages from Hussain and forwarded them to the Home Office, which runs Britain's counter-terror operations.

They forwarded it to London's Metropolitan Police, who investigated and found that he had sent thousands more messages using services like WhatsApp and Telegram as well as Facebook. They also found ISIS propaganda on his devices.

Hussain was arrested last June, and has since been found guilty of encouraging terrorism and supporting an illegal organisation.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison at Kingston Crown Court on Monday.

Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the London Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism unit, said: "This investigation started with one conscientious individual trusting his instincts and reporting something suspicious.

"He could have ignored the message Hussain sent him but instead he took a screenshot of the message and contacted the UK authorities immediately."

The Home Office runs an online reporting form as part of its ACT (action counters terrorism) campaign through which people can report suspected terrorists anonymously.

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