Nawal Msaad, who was stopped by Heathrow police with €20,000 in her pants, found not guilty of conspiring to fund terror
A British student accused of trying to smuggle thousands of pounds in her underwear to jihadist rebels in Syria has been cleared of conspiring to fund terrorism but her friend has become only the second Britain to be found guilty of the offence.
Nawal Msaad, 27, was cleared of trying to smuggle €20,000 (£16,300) to terrorists in the wartorn Middle East state following a four-week trial at the Old Bailey in London.
However, her friend, Amal el-Wahabi, 27, was found guilty of funding terrorism. Wahabi, whose British husband is believed to be fighting in Syria, arranged for Msaad to smuggle the cash to Turkey at his request. She becomes the second British conviction for Syria-related terror offences since the conflict began.
Msaad concealed the £16,300 in large denomination notes in a condom at Heathrow airport where she was stopped by police as she attempted to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.
Prosecutors alleged the money was "destined to support the jihadist cause" in a plot masterminded by Wahabi.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged Msaad was promised a reward of €1,000 if she successfully smuggled the money to an intermediary in Istanbul "in circumstances of secrecy and mutual trust".
Msaad, a human resources student at London Metropolitan University, was said to have been recruited by Wahabi to take the money to Wahabi's husband, Aine Davis, 30, who was allegedly fighting with jihadist groups in Syria.
Msaad was stopped by police at Heathrow's Terminal 5 as she boarded the 9.40am British Airways flight to Istanbul on 16 January. She told officers she was going to Turkey for a short break, and wanted to buy gold for her mother.
Asked how much cash she had, Msaad said she had €20,000 "around me". She was then taken by counter-terrorism officers to a private room, jurors were told, where she pulled a roll of banknotes from her underwear, comprising 38 €500 notes, four €200 notes and two €100 notes.
Giving evidence in her defence, Msaad vehemently denied she intended to fund terrorism and said she had been "stitched up" by Wahabi. "She wasn't completely honest with me about where the money came from. And so I do get that feeling, I'm not going to deny that. The feeling that I have been stitched up," she said.
Her defence barrister, Naeem Mian, asked her: "Between 13 and 16 of January 2014 were you concerned in an arrangement to make money available for the purposes of terrorism?"
She replied: "No."
He added: "Did you suspect that the €20,000 given to you by el-Wahabi may have been for the purposes of terrorism?"
She again replied: "No."
Her barrister said: "Were you ever told or did you ever suspect that Aine Davis, otherwise known as Hamza, was or may be involved in terrorism."
She replied: "No," adding that she had no idea the cash might have come from drug dealing and crime.
She added: "I had no intention to smuggle money into Turkey."
Wahabi also denied funding terrorism, maintaining throughout the trial that the money was intended to help move her two young children to live in Turkey. She is said to have spoken to friends about moving to the country for some time before her arrest.
Her barrister, Mark Summers, adopted an unconventional approach to his closing speech when he described Wahabi as a "foul-mouthed … phone-addicted, weed-smoking kaffir" who was an "unlikely terrorist".
Summers told jurors: "Just picture this: Amal, that foul-mouthed, red-haired, talkaholic, opinionated, phone-addicted, weed-smoking kaffir, playing the dutiful burqa-clad [woman] cooking around the campfire in Syria.
"If a jury in this court in its 200 years has been invited to swallow a more preposterous proposition, I personally would have paid good money to see it."
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