Used car salesman Khaled Temssah googled ‘how to join ISIS’
A Melbourne used car salesman used Google to search ‘how to join ISIS’ and tried to travel overseas to fight for terrorists.
A Melbourne used car salesman googled “how to join ISIS” before he tried to buy an AK-47 and head overseas to fight.
Khaled Temssah pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria to one charge of engage in conduct in preparation for an incursion into a foreign country for the purpose of engaging in hostile activity in June 2019.
“He’s preparing to go to a war zone to fight and, if necessary, die,” Judge Justin Hannebery said during the plea hearing on Monday.
The 32-year-old Roxburg Park man planned to travel to the disputed Kashmir region to engage in hostile activity and spoke about his plans to an undercover cop who posed as an extremist on the app Wickr.
Temssah also searched “is jihad in syria obligatory” and “what part of yemen is Isis in” on Google.
In messages to the undercover operative he said he wanted to be “on the front line”.
“I want to be on the front line brother with the mujahideeen (sic) I want to give my life to Allah so how much for flights and whats the next step I take brother,” one message reads.
In another message he said the “best thing” he could do for his family was “to die a Martyr” which could save them from hellfire.
He wanted to go to Kashmir to “defend there (sic) honour” and because no one spoke about it.
He later met with the undercover operative after booking tickets to New Delhi and paid $880 which he believed would go to an AK-47 and would fund his travel to Kashmir.
But the car salesman claimed he was planning to travel for “humanitarian” reasons before he later pleaded guilty to trying to go overseas to engage in hostile acts.
During an earlier hearing the wannabe jihadi disavowed the terror group.
The judge said it was concerning Temssah was radicalised so quickly and prepared to “give his life” in a matter of months.
But Judge Hannebery also said there were reasons for optimism for his rehabilitation given his age, the fact he was well supported and publicly renounced the views of Islamic State.
Defence barrister Rishi Nathwani said the 32-year-old’s plea of guilty should be entitled to a “significant credit”, had shown a degree of insight and remorse into his offending and was a good prospect for rehabilitation.
The plot was “always destined to fail”, Mr Nathwani said.
However, prosecutors argued Temssah was susceptible to influence, which was a risk factor for his rehabilitation.
Temssah will be sentenced later this month and has already spent more than 800 days on remand.