{{Short description|Thwarted terror plot}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
The '''Glostrup case''', also called the '''Glostrup-Sarajevo bomb plot''', was a thwarted jihadist terror plot that was uncovered in October 2005 in Glostrup, Denmark, and in Bosnia. In October 2005, Mirsad Bektašević and Abdulkadir Cesur were arrested in Bosnia for plotting a terrorist attack. Following their arrests, a connection was uncovered to a terrorist cell in Denmark that involved four men who had helped them obtain the explosives for the plot, all of whom had grown up in Denmark. All four were tried, but only one was found guilty, Abdul Basit Abu-Lifâ. Abdulkadir and Bektašević were sentenced to 13 and 15 years in prison, respectively, and Abu-Lifâ was sentenced to seven years. It was the first major terrorist case in Denmark that involved homegrown terrorists, and the first time any person had been convicted of terrorism under Danish law.
== Background == The people involved in the cell were:
*'''Abdul Basit Abu-Lifâ''', born June 1989 in Brøndby Strand, of Palestinian background with dual Danish-Jordanian citizenship. Apparently the most active of the four, he was preparing to join Bektasevic in Sarajevo. His father discovered his plans and took away his passport and therefore he was replaced by Cesur. He is said to be very intelligent and a good, but quiet student.{{sfn|Jensen|2006|p=46}} *A 20-year-old man from Brøndby. A Bosnian who emigrated with his family to Denmark in 1993. He was studying industrial technology at the Technical School of Copenhagen. His family was concerned over his radicalization.{{sfn|Jensen|2006|p=46}} *19-year-old man from Frederiksberg in central Copenhagen. He was studying at the time of arrest and worked at the telecompany TDC. He started to take an interest in Islam during his second year in high school. Reported to have visited Syria in 2005.{{sfn|Jensen|2006|p=46}} *16-year-old minor from Nørrebro. He is of Moroccan background and grew up in Denmark.{{sfn|Jensen|2006|p=46}}
All of the men had grown up in Denmark.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Nielsen |first=Anders Holm |date=2017-07-22 |title=Glostrupsagen: Ransagninger i Bosnien førte til første danske terrorsag |trans-title=Glostrup case: Searches in Bosnia led to first Danish terror case |url=https://www.dr.dk/historie/danmarkshistorien/glostrupsagen-ransagninger-i-bosnien-foerte-til-foerste-danske-terrorsag |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=DR |language=da-DK}}</ref>{{sfn|Hansen|Mesøy|Kardas|2009|p=265}} Others involved were 18-year-old Mirsad Bektašević, aka Maximus, a Bosnian-Swedish man, and 18-year-old Denmark-born Abdulkadir Cesur.{{sfn|Hansen|Mesøy|Kardas|2009|p=265}}{{sfn|Nesser|2015|p=203}}<ref name=":1">{{cite news |date=2007-04-25 |title=Trio 'linked to terrorist films' |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6592537.stm |access-date=2009-07-04 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref> Both were online friends of terrorist Younes Tsouli, and users of the At-Tibyan jihadist forum.{{sfn|Klausen|2021|p=270}} Bektašević was born in Montenegro, Yugoslavia.<ref>{{cite news |last=el Mahdi |first=Josef |date=2007-01-10 |title=En vanlig kille |trans-title=An ordinary guy |url=https://www.svd.se/en-vanlig-kille |accessdate=2021-03-12 |work=Svenska Dagbladet |language=sv}}</ref> His father was killed in a traffic accident while Mirsad Bektašević was a young boy. In 1994, Bektašević moved to Sweden together with his mother, and younger brother. He grew up in Kungälv north of Gothenburg. Bektašević frequently attended the Bellevue Mosque in central Gothenburg.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lisinski |first=Stefan |date=2005-11-11 |title=Säpo utreder medhjälp till terrorbrott |trans-title=Säpo investigates aiding and abetting terrorist crimes |url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=147&a=486684 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927223355/http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=147&a=486684 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2007 |accessdate=2007-01-02 |work=Dagens Nyheter |language=sv}}</ref>
Bektašević allegedly was an Internet recruiter, under the alias Maximus, for young Muslims to join the insurgency in Iraq. According to the British newspaper ''The Times'', citing police and intelligence sources, Bektašević had visited the former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and run one of his web sites.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |date=2005-11-19 |title=Swedish terror suspect "visited al-Zarqawi" |url=http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2525 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605055409/http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2525 |archivedate=2011-06-05 |accessdate=2006-12-27 |work=The Local |language=en}}</ref>
== Plot == The cell planned an attack in either Denmark or Bosnia.{{sfn|Nesser|2015|p=203}} At one stage the members of the cell released an online message that threatened a terror attack, using the name of al-Qaeda.{{sfn|Nesser|2015|p=203}}
According to news reports the four had been planning a terrorist attack in downtown Copenhagen, with Nørreport station, Field's and Fisketorvet considered primary targets.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2006-12-21 |title=Terror Targets |url=http://www.cphpost.dk/get/99698.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927180025/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/99698.html |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2007-02-17 |work=The Copenhagen Post |language=en}}</ref> One of the suspects had been detained two weeks prior to his arrest for 'behaving suspiciously' outside a football stadium in Brøndby. The Israeli team Maccabi Petah Tikva was supposed to play in the stadium and police suspected he might have been planning an attack there.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Israeli football match possible terror goal |url=http://www.cphpost.dk/get/91984.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927181913/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/91984.html |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2007-02-17 |work=The Copenhagen Post |language=en}}</ref>
Three of the four original suspects attracted security service attention when they traveled to London to visit Omar Bakri. They went together to the same mosque in Nørrebro in Copenhagen. According to reports they hated society and were introverted. The four also attended the al-Tawhid study circle, organized by Abu Ahmed, in which he spoke against democracy and integration. The four original suspects had been in contact with Cesur and Bektasevic during the summer of 2005.<ref name=":2" />
== Arrests == In October 2005, working off a tip from US intelligence, Bektašević and Cesur were arrested by Bosnian police.{{sfn|Nesser|2015|p=203}} On 19 October 2005 Bektašević was arrested as police raided his aunt's apartment in Butmir, Sarajevo.<ref name=":1" /> Upon their arrest, they were found to have in their possession {{Convert|20|kg|lb}} of explosives, in addition to handguns, jihadist videos, and a suicide belt.{{sfn|Klausen|2021|p=270}}<ref name=":1" /> Also retrieved in the raid was a video of Bektašević and Cesur in ski masks, surrounded by explosives and weapons, which was to be published following the attacks. In the video they say that they will attack sites in Europe to punish nations with forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.<ref name="hook">{{cite news |last=Krebs |first=Brian |date=2007-07-05 |title=Terrorism's Hook Into Your Inbox |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/05/AR2007070501153_pf.html |accessdate=2009-07-04 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US}}</ref> They were suspected of planning a suicide attack against a Western embassy in Sarajevo. The two had been under surveillance after arriving in Sarajevo on September 27.<ref>{{cite news |last=McGrory |first=Daniel |date=2006-06-07 |title=British computer whiz-kid exports terror via internet |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2214663,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112000947/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,29389-2214663,00.html |archive-date=2008-01-12 |accessdate=2006-12-27 |work=The Times |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Following the arrests in Bosnia, the Danish intelligence services were tipped off.<ref name=":0" /> The four men were all arrested for assisting them in their plot by helping them to obtain the explosives.{{sfn|Hansen|Mesøy|Kardas|2009|p=265}} The arrests triggered police raids in London and Denmark, where nine others, including Younes Tsouli (alias ''Irhabi 007''), a 22-year-old Moroccan living in London who became an infamous cyber terrorist and key conduit for Al-Qaeda in Iraq, were arrested. The arrest of Tsouli was possible due to information found on Bektašević's computer and mobile phone.<ref name="hook" />
Among the evidence were taped telephone calls and internet communication supposedly connecting the four to the Bosnian investigation. The four had used different names and call signs, making the investigation a complicated one. Searches at the residences of the four suspects disclosed 200000 Danish kroner (~US$35,000) in cash and a substantial collection of Islamist propaganda material.{{sfn|Jensen|2006|p=47}}
Prosecutors also had a taped conversation, apparently between Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa and Maximus in which Abu-Lifa says "We’re trying to find a place but it’s too risky".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-01-18 |title=Terror suspects had Sarajevo links |url=http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100031.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808212620/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100031.html |archive-date=2007-08-08 |access-date=2007-02-17 |work=The Copenhagen Post |language=en}}</ref> In many of the taped conversations, the suspects says they will continue their conversation by internet. The suspects refused to talk to police.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2005-11-25 |title=Terror suspects clam up |url=http://www.cphpost.dk/get/92425.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927180017/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/92425.html |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2007-02-17 |work=The Copenhagen Post |language=en}}</ref> After his arrest in Sarajevo, Bektašević was also interrogated by the British intelligence service MI5, who named him as the organizer of a suspected plot by Islamic terrorists to carry out multiple suicide bombings of the White House and the Capitol in Washington DC.<ref>{{cite news |last=Leppard |first=David |date=2005-11-06 |title=MI5 probes suicide attack plots on Washington |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1859541,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517131244/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1859541,00.html |archive-date=2008-05-17 |accessdate=2006-12-27 |work=The Times |language=en-GB}}</ref>
==Legal proceedings== The trial against Bektašević and three other men, the Danish Turk Cesur Abdulkadir and two Bosnian nationals named Bajro Ikanović and Senad Hasanović, started on 26 June 2006, in Sarajevo.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ewing |first=Adam |date=2006-06-26 |title=Trial of 'terror Swede' begins in Bosnia |url=http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4173 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605055539/http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=4173 |archivedate=2011-06-05 |accessdate=2006-12-27 |work=The Local |language=en}}</ref> All four Danish men were indicted on the grounds that they had assisted the plot.{{sfn|Hansen|Mesøy|Kardas|2009|p=265}} Abdulkadir and Bektašević were found guilty of plotting a suicide attack. They were sentenced to 13 and 15 years in prison, respectively, by the Bosnian legal system.{{sfn|Hansen|Mesøy|Kardas|2009|p=265}} The trial started on Dec. 6th, 2006. A jury found all four guilty of planning terror attacks. On Feb. 15th, 2007 a panel of judges overturned the verdict for three of the suspects, due to insufficient evidence.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-02-15 |title=Judges overturn terrorism trial verdict |url=http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100498.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927180042/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100498.html |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2007-02-17 |work=The Copenhagen Post |language=en}}</ref>
The guilty verdict for the fourth suspect, 17-year-old Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa, was upheld. Abu-Lifa was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for his role in the plot.{{sfn|Hansen|Mesøy|Kardas|2009|p=265}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-02-16 |title=Chaos in wake of terror case decision |url=http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100502.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927183409/http://www.cphpost.dk/get/100502.html |archive-date=2007-09-27 |access-date=2007-02-17 |work=The Copenhagen Post |language=en}}</ref>
On 10 January 2007 Bektašević was sentenced to fifteen years and four months in prison. Apart from terrorism crimes, Bektašević was convicted of illicit arms possession and violent resistance. Out of the other charged in the trial, Cesur Abdulkadir received thirteen years, while Bajro Ikanović was sentenced to eight years and Senad Hasanović to two years and six months in prison.<ref>{{cite news |last=El Mahdi |first=Josef |date=2007-01-10 |title=Svensk tonåring dömd för terrorism |trans-title=Swedish teenager convicted of terrorism |url=http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_14397963.asp |accessdate=2007-01-10 |work=Svenska Dagbladet |language=sv}}</ref> In June 2007 an appeals court reduced Bektašević's sentence to eight years and four months.<ref>{{cite news |date=2009-06-18 |title=Bosnia terror Swede's 'sentence cut' |url=http://www.thelocal.se/7639/20070618/ |accessdate=2009-07-04 |work=The Local}}</ref>
== Aftermath == It was the first major terrorist case in Denmark that involved homegrown terrorists,<ref name=":0" /> and the first time any person had been convicted of terrorism under Danish law.{{sfn|Ranstorp|Normark|2015|p=234}}
Abu-Lifâ was released on parole in 2010. In 2013, he re-appeared in Danish headlines after he assaulted Islam critical teen poet Yahya Hassan. He received a five-month sentence.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Corfixen |first1=Kristian |last2=Dalsgaard |first2=Miriam |date=2013-12-09 |title=Mand idømmes fem måneders fængsel for overfaldet på Yahya Hassan |trans-title=Man sentenced to five months in prison for assault on Yahya Hassan |url=https://politiken.dk/danmark/art5489250/Mand-id%C3%B8mmes-fem-m%C3%A5neders-f%C3%A6ngsel-for-overfaldet-p%C3%A5-Yahya-Hassan |access-date=2015-03-31 |work=Politiken |language=da-DK}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2013-11-19 |title=Teenage poet, Islam critic, assaulted in Denmark |url=https://apnews.com/787c4b58b9534584b944413e54fb2238 |access-date=2024-12-18 |work=Associated Press |language=en-US}}</ref> In March 2009 the Swedish government granted a request by Bektašević to serve the remainder of his prison sentence in Sweden.<ref>{{cite news |date=26 March 2009 |title=Terror Swede to finish jail time in Sweden |url=http://www.thelocal.se/18458/20090326/ |accessdate=4 July 2009 |work=The Local}}</ref> He was transferred to a Swedish prison in June 2009.<ref name="svd090703">{{cite news |last=Efendic |first=Negra |date=2009-07-03 |title=Mirsad Bektasevic överförd till Sverige |trans-title=Mirsad Bektasevic transferred to Sweden |url=http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/artikel_3159935.svd |accessdate=2009-07-04 |work=Svenska Dagbladet |language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Roberts |first=Stuart |date=2009-07-04 |title=Convicted terrorist back in Sweden |url=http://www.thelocal.se/20456/20090704/ |accessdate=2009-07-04 |work=The Local |language=en}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
=== Sources === * {{Cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Stig Jarle |title=The Borders of Islam: Exploring Huntington's Faultlines, from Al-Andalus to the Virtual Ummah |last2=Mesøy |first2=Atle |last3=Kardas |first3=Tuncay |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-231-15422-2 |language=en |chapter=Scandinavia—Alienation or Integration?}} * {{Cite report |url=http://www.diis.dk/sw30537.asp |title=Jihad in Denmark: An Overview and Analysis of Jihadi Activity in Denmark 1990-2006 |last=Jensen |first=Michael Taarnby |date=2006 |language=en |isbn=978-87-7605-176-1 |access-date=2007-02-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206010546/http://www.diis.dk/sw30537.asp |archive-date=2007-02-06 |url-status=dead |work=Danish Institute for International Studies}} * {{Cite book |last=Klausen |first=Jytte |title=Western Jihadism: A Thirty Year History |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-19-264380-3 |language=en |chapter=Homegrown Terrorism}} * {{Cite book |last=Nesser |first=Petter |title=Islamist Terrorism in Europe: A History |publisher=Hurst & Company |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-84904-405-9 |location=London |language=en |chapter=The Northern Front (2005-8)}} * {{Cite book |last1=Ranstorp |first1=Magnus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=82GhCAAAQBAJ&dq=Mirsad+Bekta%C5%A1evi%C4%87+glostrup&pg=PA249 |title=Understanding Terrorism Innovation and Learning: Al-Qaeda and Beyond |last2=Normark |first2=Magnus |publisher=Routledge |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-317-53805-9 |language=en}}
Category:Islamic terrorism in Denmark Category:2005 in Denmark Category:Terrorist incidents in Europe in 2005 Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 2005 Category:2005 crimes in Denmark Category:21st-century terrorist incidents in Denmark Category:Failed terrorist attempts in Denmark