ISIS supporter linked to Anjem Choudary avoids jail after caught with secret bank account and car

AN ISIS-supporting Islamic extremist with links to hate preachers Anjem Choudary and Omar Bakri Muhammed has avoided jail after being caught with a secret car and bank account police should have been informed of.

Ragib Khan, 42, from Luton, was jailed for five years in February 2017 with four other members of banned group Al-Muhajiroun who were caught drumming up support for ISIS through an undercover police operation.

Khan was arrested after an undercover police officer infiltrated the Luton chapter of Al-Muhajiroun and secretly recorded speeches over a 20 month period.

At the Old Bailey trial he was described as an "important and influential" member of the group, who had described the Charlie Hebdo atrocity in Paris as "excellent news".

The recorded meetings were attended by up to 80 people including young children, during which Khan and the group praised ISIS and urged people to support the terror group and travel to Syria to fight.

Anjem Choudary, 53, was chief spokesman for Al-Muhajiroun and was jailed for five-and-a-half years in 2016 for encouraging support for ISIS.

Al-Muhajiroun was founded in the UK by hate cleric Omar Bakri Muhammed, who was banned from returning to the UK after he left for Lebanon in 2005.

He is currently jailed in Beirut.

VIDEO: Rajoib Khan was filmed eating with Omar Bakri Muhammed by a beach

During the gatherings, one of Khan's co-defendants, Mohammed Istiak Alamgir, 41, collected money for legal fees of convicted terrorist Muhammed.

After the five were arrested in December 2015, police seized more than 270 electronic devices and recovered around 500 images and videos, including footage of Rajib Khan and Alamgir eating with Muhammed by a beach.

Khan was jailed at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool where concerns about his influence continued when he was caught with an illegal mobile phone which he used to radicalise other inmates by showing them beheading videos.

G4S, which runs the prison, seized the phone from him in early May 2017 and it was passed to counter terror police.

A G4S spokesman said at the time: “The prisoner’s regime was restricted and he was placed in a single cell.

“Where we suspect men might be spreading hatred or radicalising others, we will always act swiftly and refer any evidence or intelligence to the police and security services.”

Despite the concerns, Khan was released half way through the five-year sentence and placed under counter terrorism restrictions which limit access to computers and meant he had to inform police about phone numbers, email addresses, bank accounts, home addresses and vehicles.

He was arrested last year on suspicion of breaching the restrictions in respect of a car and a bank account.

PREACHER: Khan was linked to hate preacher Anjem Choudary (BBC)

Khan was charged with failing to notify counter terror police about a Barclays Bank account between January and March 2020 and use of a silver Zafira car from August 2019 to March 2020.

Khan pleaded guilty to both offences at Westminster Magistrates' Court this month.

The court heard the breaches were of a serious nature and he was sentenced to three months in prison, but it was suspended for 18 months provided he completes ten days of rehabilitation activities with a supervisory officer over the period.

David Spencer, Research Director of thinktank The Centre for Crime Prevention, said: "Khan is a convicted terrorist with a proven record of support for ISIS. He has shown no sign of reform and even tried to convert other terrorists in prison.

“He is exactly the type of person terrorism restrictions were created for and when he breaks them, there is a clear and present risk to the public.

“To hand down a suspended sentence sends completely the wrong message, both to prospective terrorists and the law-abiding public. "It is clear that Rajib Khan still poses a threat and he should be back behind bars.”