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London Club Hoax Bomber Jailed

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Monday, December 6, 2004
24 year old Crawley resident Zaheer Ahmed was jailed for 20 months last week, after being convicted of making a hoax bomb telephone threat in which he claimed suicide bombers were about to attack West End nightclub Rouge.

The clubber delivered his chilling message to disrupt the birthday celebrations of his ex-girlfriend Naima Ahouchi who ditched him days before the event, telling cops he'd overheard Algerians planning the assault "in a mosque'

"He said "they are going to walk in there. They are going to strap themselves to the bomb and they are going to blow it up," the prosecutor told the court (Telegraph)

Mr Ahmed was arrested at the phone box he made the call from in Crawley in November 2003, though 80 cops still swooped on the Charing Cross club and evacuated the premises.

The hoax happened several months before Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens warned that Al Qaida attacks on London are "inevitable', with clubs at particular risk.

"We are not just talking about the Tube and the rail system," Stevens said in February, "we are talking about buses, nightclubs, pubs and roads. We know from experience in Bali that Al Qaida attack clubs," he said (Standard).
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