A 17-year-old male, inspired by Hitler, Mussolini and Anders Breivik, planned an arson attack on an Islamic centre in Greenock after befriending the imam and mapping the building on his phone. He was arrested at the centre's door in January carrying a military-style rucksack containing a German-manufactured Glock-type air pistol, ammunition, ball bearings, gas cartridges and aerosol cans. He pleaded guilty to two terrorism charges and was sentenced to 10 years in custody with a further eight years of supervision on licence. Radicalisation occurred online from December 2024, and he boasted plans on Telegram and filmed corridor footage.
A teenager who listed Hitler, Mussolini and the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik as his inspirations and who planned a terrorist attack on a mosque has been sentenced to 10 years in custody. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, had intended to set fire to an Islamic centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, after befriending the imam and mapping out the building's interior on his phone.
Prosecutors said the teenager, who became radicalised online, began plotting the attack in December 2024 and joined the mosque's WhatsApp group saying he was looking for guidance, later winning the trust of the imam during several visits. Meanwhile he was boasting of his plans to set the centre on fire on the social media platform Telegram and later filmed himself wandering the corridors, including footage showing him superimposing a hand carrying a semi-automatic pistol.
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