Nabeel Hussain – a terrorist who financed a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic aircraft using explosives in soft drinks bottles – has been jailed for his part in “ringing” £130,000 of stolen cars.
The 2006 plot led to restrictions on the size of liquid containers that passengers can take on commercial planes – restrictions that remain in place at most airports today.
Hussain served six years of an eight-year sentence for his part in the plot, which involved him applying for a £25,000 bank loan to help finance the foiled attacks.
The 39-year-old appeared in court again this week, accused of being involved in the “professional handling” of high-value stolen cars, including a Porsche Cayenne and a Range Rover Vogue.
Hussain pleaded guilty to two counts of handling stolen goods and six charges of failing to notify police and was jailed for a total of 16 months in prison.
Hussain was released in 2012 after serving his sentence for his part in the 2006 terror plot – but was recalled to prison in September 2013 after breaching his curfew and driving without a licence.
He failed to report to police and was arrested three days later at Stansted airport, heading to Istanbul in Turkey on a false passport, suspected of intending to join ISIS in Syria.
Hussain claimed he was travelling to Turkey for a holiday and was jailed for two years and four months after pleading guilty to possessing a document with improper intent.
He was released from prison for a second time in February 2016.
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Then, on 22 May last year, Hussain’s wife, Huma Kayani, was stopped driving a stolen £67,000 Range Rover Vogue with false number plates in east London.
The Old Bailey heard that Kayani refused to get out of the car, and called someone on her mobile phone.
A short while later, Hussain, of Leytonstone, east London, arrived in his white BMW X5, with his wife’s brother.
Despite having no obvious source of income, Hussain drove high-value cars, including his BMW, and a silver Mercedes E200, the Old Bailey was told.
Paul Casey, prosecuting, told the court that police had not been able to identify “any legitimate sources of income which could account for his ownership or possession of the two high-value vehicles”.
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Police also discovered that, in November 2021, an attempt had been made to export a £65,000 Range Rover Velar, to Cyprus.
The vehicle was recorded as stolen after it had been bought by someone else using a finance agreement and then re-registered to Hussain.
In May last year, Hussain had insured a £63,000 blue Porsche Cayman at an address in Putney that had been stolen two months earlier from a gated car park.
The car was seized by police and Hussain was then stopped, on 25 October, in Aldersbrook Road in east London, driving a silver Mercedes E200 and arrested for theft.
Mr Casey said the short time between applications for ownership documents for the “rung” identity of the stolen Range Rover and Porsche “suggest a clear understanding of the provenance of the two stolen vehicles and indicate professional and sophisticated offending”.
Financial investigators also established that Hussain had financial accounts which had not been notified to the police, in breach of his licence conditions.
Jacob Bindman, mitigating, said Hussain was married with three children. He had run businesses in the past, and had been trying to set up new businesses with a friend.
He claimed he was not aware that the Range Rover driven by his wife had been stolen and said it was being paid for in instalments.
