Briton accused of directing operations of Somali terrorist group

A Muslim convert from east London has appeared in court accused of directing the activities of a terrorist group in Somalia.

Jermaine Grant, 43, from Newham, east London, allegedly attempted to sneak into Somalia dressed in a burqa. He is accused of directing al-Shabaab between December 31, 2007, and January 1, 2010.

The Somali group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, was behind the massacre at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2013 in which four masked gunmen killed 67 people.

Among their members was Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of the 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay, who joined the group in 2011, six years after the bombings killed 52 people in London.

Grant is said to have left the UK in August 2005 and was arrested by Kenyan police in 2008 attempting to cross the border into Somalia disguised in a burqa.

Read more: The Times (London)