Ben Riley-SmithVerified account

Radicals linked to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, were caught stockpiling thousands of disposable ice packs. The packs contained ammonium nitrate - a common component in homemade bombs. (When mixed it becomes extremely explosive.)

Four properties on outskirts of North West London were raided on Sep 30 2015 - three businesses and a home. Three metric tonnes of ammonium nitrate found - more than used in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 and destroyed hundreds of buildings (!!)

One man in his forties was arrested under suspicion of terrorism offences that day. He was eventually released + not charged. It’s understood that the plot was disrupted by a covert operation rather than by seeking prosecutions. (Name + exact locations not known.)

To understand what happened I’ve approached more than 30 current and former officials in UK, US and Cyprus plus been looking at court docs over the last three months. Here’s how it played out...

British authorities were first alerted by a tip-off from a foreign government. They were shocked. Hezbollah had never been considered a major threat to the UK.

MI5 and the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command took the lead in trying to work out what was afoot. MI5 launched a covert investigation that lasted months...

Such operations can include everything from eavesdropping on calls, deploying sources or attempting to turn suspects. It’s not known what methods were used here.

A few things became clear. Firstly, plot was in its early stages - known as pre-planning. A target had not been identified and an attack was not imminent. (Also no evidence Britain would have been the target ultimately.)

Secondly, the London cell was not alone. Rather it was part of a worldwide attempt by Hezbollah to store ice packs containing ammonium nitrate in a number of places, ready for when needed.

Similar plots uncovered in Thailand and the US. But the most remarkably similar was busted just a few months before this one in Cyprus. There a 26-year-old admitted storing 8 tonnes of ammonium nitrate for Hezbollah to use in terror attacks. He got 6yrs in prison.

The guy’s name was Hussein Bassam Abdallah. He’d been trained by Hezbollah to use an AK47. He also had two photocopies of a forged British passport. Cypriot police confirmed they met with UK investigators and helped where they could.

The discovery was so serious that both David Cameron and Theresa May, then prime minister and home sec, were briefed on the operation. (May was having weekly meetings with MI5 head back then.)

The Met made their move on Sep 30, making an arrest under section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006 (which has a max lifetime sentence). No other arrests were made, despite sources saying at least two people were involved in the potential London bomb factory.

Despite no charges being brought, investigation was judged to have been a success according to well-placed sources. One called what they found “proper organised terrorism”. Plot was disrupted + understanding of Hezbollah’s activity in UK and elsewhere was deepened.

This all raises two key questions for the Government. 1) Why weren’t MPs told? There was a major debate about whether Hezbollah should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. For years the Gov refused to. Would this have changed the debate? (Ban eventually came in Feb 2019)

2) Was decision to keep it secret linked at all to desire to keep the Iran nuclear deal afloat? While US admin under Trump soured on the deal in part due to Iran proxy behaviour, Britain was backing it. (Yet the public didn’t know of a Hezbollah terror plot in London.)