British man charged with directing Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab and attending commando training camp
Jermaine Grant has also been charged with possession of an AK47 for terrorist purposes.
A British man has been charged with offences linked to an Islamist terrorist group based in Somalia after an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing London.
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Jermaine Grant, 43, has been charged with directing the activities of terrorist organisation, Al-Shabaab.
He has also been charged with three counts of attending an Al-Shabaab commando training camp in Kismayu in Somalia, and two counts of possession of an AK47 for terrorist purposes.
The charges relate to a time between 31 December 2007 and 1 January 2010 when Al-Shabaab was operating in Somalia.
Grant is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 9 April.
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Acting Commander Kris Wright, of CTP London, said: “These are serious charges and come as the result of a long-running investigation.
“This case shows we will always pursue anyone suspected of being involved in terrorist activity, no matter where in the world or how long ago it is alleged to have taken place.”
Al-Shabaab is an Islamist armed group that has been linked to al Qaida.
The organisation was labelled a “persistent threat” in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, which carries out “high profile attacks that challenge government authority”, according to a 2025 assessment by the UK Government.
It has targeted international aid workers, journalists, business people and non-government organisations who have opposed or resisted it.
The group has claimed responsibility for high-profile attacks outside of Somalia, including the 2019 attack on Nairobi’s DusitD2 luxury hotel complex that left 21 people dead, the 2015 shooting at Garissa University in northern Kenya which killed 147 students, and the 2013 attack that killed 67 people at Nairobi’s Westgate Shopping Mall.