LONDON: The imam of a Scottish mosque has described how a neo-Nazi teenager pretended to convert to Islam as a way to carry out a massacre inside.
The boy, 16 years old at the time of the incident, was caught by detectives in January as he traveled to burn down the Inverclyde Muslim Centre in Greenock, Sky News reported on Monday.
He later pleaded guilty under the Terrorism Act at the Glasgow High Court and will be sentenced at a later date.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was inspired by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik and hoped that the mosque, with a capacity of 275 worshippers, would be full during his attack. He had planned to livestream the massacre after becoming radicalized online aged 13.
He told Imam Mohammed Bilal that he intended to become a Muslim. “I gave him the Qur’an to get more knowledge,” Bilal said.
