A man who acted on his extremist views and promoted the so-called Islamic State group on social media has been sentenced following an investigation by the Metropolitan (Met) Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Shehroz Iqbal, 29, of east London received more than eight years’ imprisonment for his offenses at the Old Bailey court on Friday, 20 November.
For one count of dissemination of terrorist material, contrary to section 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and for one count of encouragement of terrorism, contrary to section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006, he received six years’ imprisonment with a further three years to be served on licence.
He is also subject to a terrorism notification order for 15 years.
For being concerned in the supply of a Class A controlled drug (cocaine) contrary to section 4 (3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; for possession of a prohibited Class A drug (cocaine) contrary to section 4 (3)(b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; and, for possession of Class B drug (cannabis), contrary to section 5(4)(a) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, he was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment.
Both sentences are to run consecutively.
Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “I am very pleased with this sentence. Shehroz Iqbal is a volatile man with an extremist mind-set who has now been sentenced to a lengthy time in prison.
“Thanks to the vigilance of Counter Terrorism officers we identified Iqbal’s illegal activity and were able to prevent him from carrying out something far more harmful.
“Every day the national counter terrorism police network is fighting terrorism. However, police also rely on information from the public and I urge everyone to remain vigilant and report anything suspicious at all to police whether they see it online or in the real world.”
Detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command arrested Iqbal after they found he had shared an IS propaganda video on his open Facebook page. They carried out a thorough investigation and Iqbal was arrested on April 6.
He was subsequently charged the next day with dissemination of terrorist material, and taken into custody. He first appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 8.
In the meantime, ongoing analysis of Iqbal’s media devices by detectives found that he had also uploaded to a WhatsApp group footage of himself in central London with words which included, ‘Attack, Attack’ – the inference being Iqbal was encouraging others to carry out an attack at various locations.
Following this discovery, a further indictment of encouragement of terrorism was added on July 27 when he appeared at the Old Bailey for a pre-trial hearing.
Iqbal was found guilty at the Old Bailey on October 20 of the terrorism-related offenses. He again appeared in custody at the Old Bailey on November 6, charged with the three drugs offences to which he pleaded guilty.
Read the announcement at the Metropolitan Police
