An 18-year-old from Ilford in east London, Yusuf Shah, has been jailed for four years and two months after being convicted of five terrorism offences. According to sources, Kingston Crown Court sentenced him on October 20 and imposed a 10-year terrorism notification order, and the Metropolitan Police confirmed the outcome the following day.
Police said Shah gave technical advice to supporters of Al-Qaeda and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan when he was 16. The investigation began in January 2024, when he was stopped at Heathrow Airport under counter-terrorism powers and his phone was examined. Officers searched his home in April 2024 and seized a computer and USB devices.
Investigators said Shah advised members of Telegram groups on cryptocurrency methods meant to make donations to Al-Qaeda harder to trace, and police said one payment of just over $1,376 was made that way in April 2024. In late March 2024, a Telegram contact told him a senior TTP official wanted a cybersecurity guide, and Shah wrote one and sent it. The police statement does not establish who that official was or how widely the document was used.
After a five-week trial, Shah was convicted of arranging funds for terrorism, providing instruction or training, and three counts of collecting information useful for terrorism. Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said the case showed how young people can be drawn to extremist material online, and urged parents to take an active interest in their children's online lives.