A man arrested by police on a Cardiff street has been charged with carrying instructions on guided missiles and a computer storage device disguised as a cufflink in pursuit of Islamic State’s campaign of terrorism.
Samata Ullah, 33, who was arrested last month, was charged on Tuesday with six terrorism offences. He was detained in the third operation in a month resulting in an arrest by British police as they seek to disrupt alleged Islamist plotting of violence.
Ullah has been charged with directing terrorism, providing training in encryption programs knowing the purpose was for terrorism, and using his blog site to provide such training. His activities are alleged to have “the intention of assisting another or others to commit acts of terrorism”.
The Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command said Ullah had been charged with having “in his possession an article, namely one universal serial bus (USB) cufflink, that had an operating system loaded on to it for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism”.
Ullah is also charged with having “in his possession articles namely a book about guided missiles and a PDF version of a book about advanced missile guidance and control for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism”.
The alleged offending occurred between 31 December 2015 and 22 September 2016, the date when he was arrested on the streets of the Welsh capital, one of several recent arrests which UK counter-terrorism officials believe may be significant.
In August, police made arrests in Birmingham amid fears of a potential attack, leading to four people being charged, and detectives made arrests in London in September, resulting in charges against one person.
Ullah will appear at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday.
