Brit’s ISIS TikTok post sparked ‘ring of steel’ around football stadiums

A man from Cleethorpes caused an international security alert as he posted about ‘easy’ football stadium targets and suggesting Champions League games would get ‘huge rewards’

A man from Cleethorpes has been given a 15 year extended sentence after his TikTok posts sparked fears ISIS had been planning attacks on football stadiums.

Mohammed Mahfuz Ahmed prompted a massive international security alert after he suggested stadiums hosting Champions League games were an ‘easy target’ and the results would be ‘huge’’.

The 26-year-old’s threats prompted an “extraordinary” security response from the Spanish interior ministry for the match in April between Real Madrid and Manchester City.

They drafted in more than 3,500 police officers, with four separate rings of security, and snipers posted on the roofs of buildings overlooking the stadium.

Ahmed, 26, from North Lincolnshire, was running multiple TikTok accounts, including one in the name Knight_of_Martyrdom urging people to hit the ‘easy’ targets. He was sharing pro-ISIS propaganda making calls to behead and shoot dead disbelievers.

On April 4th last year he posted an image of fans at a football ground with targets on their heads which read: “To the stadiums, launch o muwahhid (faithful) to your new target.”

It added: “The bleachers (open air stands) and games in stadiums are filled with large numbers of crusaders. The targets are easy to reach, the results are huge, Allah willing and the reward is many times over. This will kill them, bloody their days, ruin their lives and make grief their punishment. The Prophet said ‘a kaffir (non-believer) and his killer will never be brought together in hell.'”

Ahmed posted a comment with the image which read: “Answer the call” .

The image was posted days after an attack at a concert at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow by four men claiming allegiance to Islamic State, who opened fire killing at least 145 people including six children.

Another image was posted four days later, on April 8th, by a media channel linked to ISIS in the same black and red colours, featuring a gunman in a balaclava with the message: “Kill them all.”

It pictured the Emirates Stadium in London, Parc de Prince in Paris, and Santiago Bernabéu and Metropolitano Arena stadiums in Madrid which were due to host UEFA Champions League football matches the next day.

Ahmed was arrested on April 18th at his home address and police seized an iPhone, a Samsung laptop and two USB memory sticks.

On his phone was an image of the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid with a red target circle at the entrance to the stadium where people are entering.

The threats made headline news across the world and Katherine Robinson, prosecuting, told Sheffield crown court: “We say that this is a statement of direct encouragement to commit acts of terrorism.

“The defendant had an extensive following on TikTok. He also used hashtags which accompany each of his posts. This enables the user to significantly widen the reach of their posts.”

Ahmed was using the TOR browser to access the dark web which disguised the source of the terrorist material he distributed, the prosecutor said.

Ahmed was found guilty of three counts of disseminating terrorist material and one count of encouraging terrorism.

The judge, Jeremy Richardson KC, said Ahmed had “utterly revolting scenes of cruelty and savagery relating to a variety of terrorist outrages” on his computer.

“By far the most serious of the charges relates to the UEFA football tournament, when you were directly encouraging individuals to indulge in terrorist activity, relating to that major public international event,” he added.

“You were seeking to recruit others with equally perverted views as yourself to indulge in acts of terrorism as individuals have done in the past elsewhere in the world.”

Sentencing him to 10 years in jail with five years on extended licence, the judge added: “I have a duty to protect the public. I sincerely hope that this sentence serves as a deterrent to others.”

The police said a raid on his home revealed a “deep-seated extremist mindset” and an “avid determination to share terrorist material online.”

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley the head of Counter-Terrorism Policing North East said: “Ahmed was persistent and determined in his efforts to reach as many people as possible with his posts, which often included graphic content and glorified acts of terrorism.

“He went to considerable lengths to seek out and share material that could not easily be found on mainstream online platforms, using hashtags to appeal to a wider audience and encourage more followers.

“The potential impact of his actions should not be underestimated…Sharing extremist material online is not a victimless crime and may inspire others to act..”

Over a five-month period Ahmed gathered more than 1,300 followers and received in excess of 14,000 likes in response to his content. Each time TikTok closed his accounts, Ahmed set up a new one with a slightly varied username, re-posting the same pro-ISIS content and adding new posts.

In messages dating back to October 2023, Ahmed shared graphic violent pro-ISIS videos with his wife. In one exchange he told her: “A martyr can take 70 people to heaven with him. The blood of a martyr is more pure than water or anything.”

Then he added: “Babe, I’m surprised how MI5 haven’t come to my house yet. I’ve heard people getting raided and going to prison for spreading so called Islamic propaganda. I mean it’s happened to loads of people.

“They take away your passport and everything sometimes, depending on what it is. The only thing that would get me into trouble is with the police for dissemination of so-called terrorist publications.”

Omran Belhadi, defending, said Ahmed came from a very small Bangladeshi community in Cleethorpes where his opportunity to mix with other Muslims was limited.

His middle brother suffered from non-verbal autism and his mother had had a stroke which left her unable to feed and clothe herself, putting “pressure points” on the family, he added.