Muslim extremist jailed for raising cash to ‘train terrorists with AK-47s’ now working as Sainsbury’s home delivery driver
Mohammed Shabir Ali, 29, drops off online food orders unsupervised and takes shopping inside the homes of online customers who are unaware of his terror links
A MUSLIM extremist jailed after raising cash to train jihadis with Kalashnikovs is working as a Sainsbury’s home delivery driver.
Mohammed Shabir Ali, 29, drops off online food orders unsupervised and takes shopping inside the homes of online customers who are unaware of his terror links.
He and his twin brother posed as charity collectors in Tower Hamlets, East London, to raise £3,000 for al-Shabaab in Somalia.
Terror group ISIS has been linked to it and is currently trying to recruit its jihadi members.
MP today demanded to know why an Islamic extremist is working for the supermarket after serving a three-year jail term for funding terrorism.
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said: “The public’s safety has to be paramount.
“If someone has been convicted for funding terrorism the employer and more importantly the customers should be made aware.”
One Sainsbury’s customer added: “It’s scandalous.
“He’s a convicted terrorist.
“How can Sainsbury’s let him do this?
“He is entering people’s homes, sometimes vulnerable people of different faiths.”
Dad-of-three Shabir and twin brother Shafiq, of Tower Hamlets, East London, opened an Islamic street stall posing as charity collectors and raised £3,000 over three years.
It was funnelled to al-Shabaab training camps in Somalia.
Their trial heard the cash was used for “training using guns and automatic weapons, such as Kalashnikovs”.
They admitted funding terrorism and were jailed for three years in August 2012.
Since being released from Belmarsh Prison Shabir has been working unsupervised eight-hour shifts for Sainsbury’s — despite being put on a terror watchlist for ten years.
His route takes him from the supermarket’s depot in Bow, East London, to Stoke Newington, Islington and Camden.
East Africa-based al-Shabaab has historically been affiliated to al-Qaeda.
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But links to ISIS have strengthened recently.
Last year a senior al-Shabaab commander and his followers pledged allegiance to ISIS.
And ISIS has released online videos aimed at recruiting al-Shabaab members — stressing their shared jihadi vision.
The call has sparked unrest, with reports of violence between pro and anti ISIS factions.
Shabir’s elder brother Mohammed Shahim Ali, 34, joined al-Shabaab in 2008 with friends Muhammad Jahangir and Taufail Ahmed.
Ahmed, also from Tower Hamlets, died fighting with the terrorists in 2013.
Shabir’s wife claimed Sainsbury’s was aware of her husband’s conviction because it carries out criminal records checks on employees.
She said: “He has never hidden his past from Sainsbury’s.
“They know all about what happened.
“We want to put it all behind us now and get on with our lives.”
Sainsbury's said it could not comment about an individual employee.
But the store giant is thought to have launched an investigation into how Shabir got the job.
A source suggested Sainsbury’s would not employ an online delivery driver with a conviction for funding terrorism and added: “The possibility is that the conviction and sentence were not declared by the applicant during the interview process.”