Yusuf Shah was stopped under the Terrorism Act at Heathrow Airport at just 16-years-old after producing a guide to cybersecurity for the terrorist group Tehrik-e-Taliban
Yusuf Shah was only 13 when he started discussing religion on social media(Image: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)
A teenager from London expressed his support for terrorist ideologies on the internet before putting together a cybersecurity guide for a terrorist group.
Yusuf Shah, of Ilford, east London, was only 13 when he started discussing religion on social media in 2021. From the end of the following year, he started expressing his support for activities carried out by terrorist groups such as Al Qaida and Tehrik-e-Taliban.
The now 18-year-old then went on to offer his technical knowledge to the terrorist groups. This included cybersecurity advice and ways to avoid detection when making cryptocurrency payments.
In January 2024, at 16, he was stopped at London Heathrow Airport under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act. Officers seized his mobile phone along with a computer and USB storage devices which were analysed after a search of his home address in April the same year.
The data obtained from Shah’s phone showed he had accessed an online magazine published by Al Qaida, which was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden. The magazine contained practical information on how to carry out various different acts of terrorism.
The teenager had also downloaded documents with instructions on how to make explosives and explosive devices, as well as documents that included instructions on how to use different types of weapons.
Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) London said: “Our investigation showed that Shah was being drawn into extremist and terrorist material and ideologies when he was only 13 or 14 years old. This is reflective of a growing trend and concern over children and young people being radicalised and accessing extremely dangerous and violent terrorist ideologies and material online.
“Even at the age of just 16, Shah had enough knowledge of the online world to be able to provide practical advice to terrorist groups on how to make anonymous cryptocurrency payments. It is vital that parents and carers are aware of what children are doing on the internet, especially if they are accessing social media platforms.
“I would implore you to have conversations, to be inquisitive about what your children are doing online, and if you have any concerns, then there is help available to you via the ACT Early website.”
Shah had also engaged in chat groups that supported terrorist groups, involving people from all over the world, on the messaging app Telegram. Shah offered himself to these chat groups as someone who shared their violent ideology and who could help them with technical computer knowledge.
Shah advised members of the group to use a specific, untraceable cryptocurrency to make a donation to Al Qaida. In April 2024, a donation of $1,376.51 (£1,028.60) was made to a QR code using the security methods that Shah had advised.
It was the only donation that was ever made using that QR code. In March 2024, Shah was asked to produce a cybersecurity guide dor Tehrik-e-Taliban by an individual who contacted him on Telegram.
This individual said that a senior official within TTP had asked him for this. Shah quickly produced a document that he titled “A Guide on Cybersecurity”.
This provided detailed information and instruction on cybersecurity and the use of cryptocurrency. He sent it to the individual and provided it to the terrorist group to help them to conduct their terrorist activities in secret.
After a five-week trial at Kingston Crown Court, Shah was convicted of:
- One count of entering into or becoming concerned in an arrangement as a result of which money or other property is made available or is to be made available to another on dates between 26 March 2024 and 5 April 2024
- One count of providing instruction or training and at the time knew that a person receiving it intended to use the training in connection with the commission of preparation of acts of terrorism or for assisting the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism, on dates between 30 March 2024 and 4 April 2024
- Three counts of collecting terrorist materials
Shah was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the same court on September 16.
