BBC Scotland News
BBCA teenager who planned to mass murder in a terrorist attack in a mosque in Greenock has been sentenced in custody for 10 years.
The 17 -year -old was arrested in January, when the police caught him outside the Invarclide Muslim Center with an airgun and aerosol compartment.
He had planned to set fire to the building, killing any worshiper.
While sentencing the teenager in the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Arthurson said he had planned “quite a devilish atrocities”.
The judge also ordered that the teenager should serve the period of eight years after his release.
The president of the mosque earlier told the news of the BBC Scotland that he had forgiven the teenager and had sympathy for his family.
The boy, who cannot be nominated due to his age, spoke online how the white people were in “war” and “he would die for my land”.
After assuring the Imam of the Center that he wanted to become a Muslim, he was able to plan his attack.
But the police had received intelligence and arrested the boy who was 16 years old, outside the mosque.
He was carrying an Rooksack with an airgun that he planned to use the worshipers inside the building after setting fire using aerosol cans.
Masjid president Mohammad Akhtar had earlier said that he was surprised and was saddened by what had happened and there was no place for hatred crime in the community.
He said: “We hope that the young person can get support and help him understand the effect of his action.
“And we have sympathy for his family for such a difficult time.”
He said: “Forgiveness and understanding each other. This is the most important thing.
“If you understand each other, most problems can be solved.”
Mr. Akhtar said that he was very grateful to the police’s quick response – and security assurances had given to the local people since the attack.
‘Inspired by Hitler and Mussolini’
In Glasgow, the High Court earlier heard that the boy was made radical through social media from the age of 13.
A list of “inspirations” found in his phone included Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Norwegian Nav-Nazi terrorist Anders Brevik.
He initially wanted to bomb his school in December last year before deciding to target the mosque.
The court heard how the boy approached an acquaintance through the Telegram messaging app.
He wrote: “It is good to infiltrate the goal, it is a mosque or synagogue, because he feels that I am one of them because I have infiltrated the place.”
The boy also asked the acquaintance to remove the burning of the mosque.
This would be shared with a “last” manifesto in which he said that he planned the attack when the mosque would be completely “.
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