• Mubashir Jamil, 22, allegedly ‘offered to put on suicide vest and press the button’
  • Gamer was obsessed with martyrdom after surfing the web for ISIS propaganda
  • Jamil was arrested before he tried to board a flight for Turkey, bound for Syria 

By Amie Gordon For Mailonline, 6 March 2017

A former straight-A student told an undercover officer he would blow himself up in Britain if he could not fight for Islamic State in Syria, a court heard.

Mubashir Jamil, 22, from Luton, allegedly offered to put on a suicide vest and ‘press the button on the same day’, before his arrest in April last year, the Old Bailey heard.

The avid computer gamer became obsessed with ‘martyrdom’ after surfing the web for ISIS propaganda, the court heard.

But counter-terrorist officers swooped to arrest him days before his flight to Turkey, allegedly en route to Syria.

Mubashir Jamil, 22, from Luton (pictured left and right) allegedly offered to put on a suicide vest and ‘press the button on the same day’, before his arrest

Jurors were told how he was snared in encrypted chat with an undercover officer, known as ‘Abu Hasan’.

Jamil made contact with the man he thought was an ISIS agent through the Telegram app, the court heard.

He allegedly told him: ‘If you or some brother you know can put an explosive belt on me and tell me how to press, as soon as possible for security reasons, I can do something in the UK even tomorrow after I find a good target.’

He goes on to say he would ‘prefer hijrah (migration)’.

He also allegedly told the officer: ‘I want them to feel another attack while they’re still in mourning for Belgium.’

The court heard how Jamil shaved off his beard following guidance on an e-publication on how to be a ‘secret agent’ in a non-Muslim country.

In early April last year, Jamil bought a return flight from Luton to Turkey and stocked up on travel kit, including toiletries from Boots.

On April 14 he allegedly asked Abu Hasan: ‘Will I have to buy my own guns in Sham?’ The officer told him not to worry.

Just days before he was due to leave, counter-terrorist police burst into Jamil’s home.

At the time, he was on his laptop sending Abu Hasan the message ‘police alert’.

Prosecutor Barnaby Jameson said: ‘What the defendant did not know at the time is that Abu Hasan was an undercover police officer.

‘The man the defendant thought was from Islamic State had meticulously recorded screen captures of all his telephone conversations with the defendant.’

The prosecutor told how the former Challney High School for Boys pupil got A grades in his GCSEs and did work experience at an accountancy firm.

He worked in a local Amazon warehouse and listed his interests as reading fiction, surfing the internet and physical training.

Mr Jameson said: ‘It was through the internet that the defendant was drawn into a world poles apart from that of a gifted schoolboy with A stars in both the arts and the sciences.

‘Through the world wide web the defendant became an extreme jihadist radical and follower of Islamic State.

‘He became a would-be IS recruit willing to sacrifice his life for IS and indeed the lives of others.

‘He turned from a player of video games into someone willing to carry out suicide attacks in this country on behalf of IS.

‘His preference, however, was to go to Syria and join IS as a jihadist fighter.’

Mr Jameson said Jamil had a ‘fascination with violence’, including the murder of Western hostages by ISIS.

‘He also had something of an obsession with images of dead jihadi fighters or martyrs,’ the prosecutor said.

A former pupil Challney High School for Boys in Luton (pictured), Jamil got A grades in his GCSEs, did work experience at an accountancy firm and worked in a local Amazon warehouse

grades in his GCSEs, did work experience at an accountancy firm and worked in a local Amazon warehouse

The court heard how Jamil trawled Twitter for pro-ISIS feeds, including one which praised last year’s Belgian bombings.

Jurors were shown extracts of ‘upsetting and disturbing’ images and documents taken from Jamil’s computer.

Among them was a profile dedicated to a 23-year-old British fighter of Pakistani origin who was shot in the eye and ‘martyred’.

Jamil, who was born in Pakistan but brought up in Britain, denies a charge of preparing for terrorist acts.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.