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| Naseer Taj: Bedford terrorist planned to leave pregnant wife | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A taxi driver who planned to leave his pregnant wife to join so-called Islamic State has been found guilty of terror offences. | |
| Naseer Taj, 26, had prepared to travel to Syria, marry a jihadi bride and achieve martyrdom, his trial heard at the Old Bailey heard. | |
| Taj, from Bedford, was found guilty of one charge of preparing terrorist acts and two of possessing terrorist information. | Taj, from Bedford, was found guilty of one charge of preparing terrorist acts and two of possessing terrorist information. |
| He is due to be sentenced in April. | He is due to be sentenced in April. |
| The court heard Taj was "caught red-handed" on 29 December 2014 as he finalised his preparations at his Tudor Court flat in Victoria Road, Bedford. | |
| 'True intentions' | |
| The defence claimed Taj had planned to live peacefully in Syria with his new wife, but he had changed his mind about travelling shortly before his arrest. | |
| However, police found evidence he had booked a New Year's Eve train to Brussels and an onward flight to Turkey. | |
| The prosecution argued the return plane ticket "was intended to disguise his true intentions". | |
| Police found combat boots and trousers, a utility belt and a type of scarf worn by fighters in the Middle East. | |
| The prosecution said his mobile phone contained a "huge amount of extremist Islamist material", including three editions of an Al Qaeda English language e-magazine called Inspire, which showed "a man who had become deeply supportive of violent radical Islamism". | |
| Taj made no reaction as the guilty verdicts were read out. |