Man convicted for bomb hoax on Home Office day after Manchester terror attack

Ahmed Belkasim pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey on Tuesday
PA Archive/PA Images
Alexandra Richards14 November 2017

A man who called the police pretending to be a terrorist just one day after the Manchester attack has been convicted.

Ahmed Belkasim, aged 30 from Greenwich, called the immigration compliance and enforcement team at Lunar House in Croydon threatening to commit a similar attack.

The attack on Manchester Arena left 22 people dead.

Speaking over the phone on May 23 he said: “I don’t know how to make bombs, but I’m going to come and bomb you.”

The next day he phoned five more times threatening: “22 dead, there will be more than that when I’m finished with you.”

In total he called the centre 10 times.

When Mr Belkasim was accused of making the phone calls he denied any involvement and blamed others even after hearing a recording of the calls.

However, the employee at the call centre recognised his voice as a regular caller.

Mr Belkasim pleaded guilty to the offence at the Old Bailey on Tuesday.

Daren Streeter, CPS London South Senior District Crown Prosecutor, said: “Ahmed Belkasim used the terrorist atrocity in Manchester in an attempt to strike fear into a Home Office employee.

“Our prosecution proved Belkasim intended to cause alarm and our case against him included call recordings, witness statements and comments made as he was arrested.

“No-one should have to be caused alarm in this way and the CPS will prosecute anyone who makes these kind of threats.”

Belkasim will be sentenced on December 5.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in