A LONDONER aged 22 has become the first person in Britain to be charged with training to become a terrorist.
Yassin Mutegombwa, from Norwood, South London, is accused of receiving weapons training over weekends this year at camps in the New Forest and Berkshire.
He is the first person to face British courts under the new Terrorist Act 2006.
He was arrested along with 13 others more than a week ago in a Scotland Yard operation targeting the recruitment and training of would-be Islamic terrorists.
Mr Mutegombwa faces three counts of attending weekend training sessions for terrorism during April, May and June. The Terrorism Act, which became law in March, also makes it an offence to be at a place where training is taking place and includes clauses banning the glorification of terrorism.
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Each of three charges alleges that he was at a site and “whilst there instruction or training of the type mentioned in this Act (Terrorism Act 2006) or the Terrorism Act 2000 (weapon training) was provided wholly or partly for the purposes connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism, and he knew or believed that the instruction or training was being provided there wholly or partly for purposes connected with the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism” .
Over the weekend between April 28 and May 1, Mr Mute-gombwa is said to have received training in a woodland area near Matley Wood caravan and camping site in Lyndhurst, Hampshire.
A second charge alleges that Mr Mutegombwa returned for a second training session at the same site for a long weekend between June 2 and 4. He is also accused of attending a third training session near Pondwood Farm, White Waltham, Berkshire, on Sunday, June 18.
The Matley Wood campsite in the New Forest was run by the Forestry Commission at the time of the alleged training. The site is described as “a small secluded site within natural woodland”. It has no amenities and there is space for 70 pitches for tents and caravans.
Pondwood Farm is at White Waltham near Maidenhead and close to the M4. The farm is the centre for a complex of leisure and outdoor activities including paintballing, bungee jumping and coarse fishing. There are also companies involved in security and flood protection.
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A middle-aged woman who answered the door at Pondwood Farm last night expressed surprise at the suggestion that the site could have hosted a terrorist training camp. “I don’t know what all this is about, but it is worrying if something is going on around here. I hope it’s not true,” she said.
The tidy-looking farm with its neat stable block is set down a long private road on the outskirts of White Waltham, a picturesque Berkshire village.
Mr Mutegombwa’s 20-year- old brother, Hassan, was also arrested in the raids and faces a single charge of procuring funds for terrorism in July. Two other men were also charged last night in connection with the same anti-terrorism operation, Scotland Yard said.
All four men will appear before City of Westminster magistrates today. They were among 14 suspects arrested 10 days ago and are the first from that group to be charged.
Two men were released without further action last week, and a number of other suspects are still being questioned by police in London.
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School search still under way
Police were still searching the Jameah Islamiyah Secondary School in East Sussex yesterday, which was raided after the arrest of 14 terror suspects ten days ago.
The independent school for boys aged 11-16, which opened three years ago in 54 acres of a former convent, was last year failed by inspectors for not providing a satisfactory education. Inspectors found that it had nine pupils on its roll. None had been entered for public examinations. The Department for Education has confirmed that a notice was served for it to supply an action plan or face closure.