Hammersmith barber found guilty of funding Syrian terrorists

A west London barber has been found guilty of sending thousands of pounds to fund terrorist activity in Syria, following an investigation by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

Tarek Namouz, 43, was arrested in May last year in a pre-planned operation by counter terrorism officers. Material found on his phone pointed to an extremist mindset.

After analysing the phone, officers discovered messages between him and a Daesh supporter in Syria in which they talked about purchasing weapons and explosives to use against the Syrian government forces.

Namouz – who ran and lived above the Boss Crew barbershop in Blythe Road, Hammersmith – sent in excess of £11,000 to his contact in Syria over a number of months.

On Wednesday of last week, at Kingston Crown Court, Namouz was found guilty of eight counts of funding terrorism, and two counts of possessing information likely to be useful for terrorism.

He will be sentenced on Thursday, January 5, 2023.

Commander Richard Smith, who leads the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Terrorist groups rely on funding to carry out their activities and to continue to operate.

“People like Namouz who provide money to terrorist groups – both in the UK and overseas – are enabling others to go and commit serious and deadly attacks, and we will always pursue and investigate those people and seek to bring them to justice.”

Namouz sent the money via a money transfer bureau in west London. Detectives found records of transactions totalling £11,280.

However, while on remand, he was recorded telling a visitor who had come to see him in prison that he had sent more than double that amount – about £25,000.

When officers visited Namouz’s flat to arrest him on May 25, 2021, he told officers he didn’t have a phone. But during the search, detectives found one hidden in a recess under a drawer.

It was on this phone that officers found Daesh propaganda material consisting of thousands of videos, messages, and documents which he had downloaded from Telegram.

This included two videos – one which gave instructions on how to create an improvised explosive device, and another on detailing how to carry out knife attacks.

Pictured top: Tarek Namouz (Picture: The Met)