A former Uber driver believed he had convinced a friend to carry out a terror attack on London's Gay Pride - but he turned out to be an undercover police officer.
Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 28, now faces jail after the covert officer found he had also planned gun, knife and van onslaughts on iconic tourist sites, including Madame Tussauds, Piccadilly Circus and open-top tour buses.
The chicken shop worker spent months preparing for the acts and even practised stabbing and rehearsed beheading techniques. The jihadi also booked shooting range training and tried to acquire a real gun.
And Woolwich Crown Court was told Chowdhury was cleared in December 2018 of slashing police with a sword outside the Queen's London residence while shouting "Allahu Akbar".
Chowdhury remained emotionless as jurors found him guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, collecting information likely to be useful to someone preparing an act of terrorism and disseminating terrorist publications.
The second charge related to a document titled 'guidance for doing just terror operations' on his phone which included instructions on how to kill people with knives.
The court heard the brave Met Police officer had posed as a like-minded jihadi to nail the thug last year.
Speaking after Chowdhury's conviction, Commander Richard Smith, Scotland Yard's head of counter-terrorism command, told reporters: "Initially Chowdhury was personable and conversational.
"We believe this was because at that time (he thought) one of the covert officers was planning on carrying out an attack.
"We believe he might have been trying to buy time for Mikael (the officer's alias) to do so.
"As Pride took place we revealed that Mikael was a covert officer and played some covert recordings.
"His demeanour changed quite dramatically."
And Chowdhury, of Luton, Bedfordshire, denied the charges during his police interviews.
Footage shows the man tell officers: "I've already been in prison. I do not want to go back there.
"I know what I did was wrong ... I was found not guilty by 12 members of the jury, why would I then come out to do another attack?
"It doesn't make any sense
The defendant's sister Sneha Chowdhury, 25, cried as she was convicted of one count of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism and cleared of another count of the same charge.
Jurors deliberated for eight hours and 39 minutes before returning their verdicts on Monday.
The siblings will be sentenced on March 13.
Commander Smith added: “The courage and professionalism of these covert officers meant they obtained evidence that was, I feel, crucial to us securing these convictions today. They, like so many officers working across counter terrorism policing every day, are carrying out dangerous and challenging work to ensure the public is kept safe.”
“In counter terrorism, we constantly balance the risk dangerous individuals pose to the public with the need to gather evidence strong enough to secure a conviction and ensure they are locked up. Mohuissunnath Chowdhury was determined to kill innocent people but we arrested him at the right time, having been able to gather sufficient evidence of his plans.”
