Official TS: Drill rapper admits terrorism chemical offence - BBC News
Al-Arfat Hassan, known to drill-music fans as Official TS, bought chemicals for making explosives.
Official TS in the video of a track called Habibti

A drill rapper has pleaded guilty to possessing chemicals for terrorist purposes.

Al-Arfat Hassan bought the chemicals which can be used to make explosives, two knives and a sword and posed with them in a video, talking about looking good for his "final moments".

The 20-year-old was caught when police stopped him at Heathrow Airport.

A 17-year-old boy from Leeds who Hassan had never met in person admitted possessing a bomb-making video.

Hassan, from Enfield, north London, is known to drill-music fans as Official TS. His early songs were about violent street life - but in 2021, they changed.

"I don't care about the fame, girls, money and guns," he sang in a track called Noor.

"Rely on Allah when things get tough. No more drugs and guns in the palm. I promise you I'll leave the haram."

Some of his ideas were drawn more from Islamic State (IS) group ideology than any religious texts.

In 2022 he released a track called Habibti, which included the lyrics: "I don't do love - I'm a full-time mujahid.

"Married to the gun and the sword, I'm charging.

"If I chop them multiple times with a axe, they'll fall on their... knees."

The lyrics to another song, Bengali, Boss were even more graphic: "Had a smile on my face when that kafir dropped.

"Should have seen my eyes when his heartbeat stopped.

"Kafir" is one spelling of an Arabic word commonly used for "unbeliever".

But Hassan did more than sing about religiously inspired violence.

After officers seized two iPhones at the airport, on 27 February, he returned home, instead of flying to Bangladesh with his father and uncle, to quickly dispose of the chemicals and most of the weapons.

But detectives, working with the specialist Counter-Terrorism Policing National Digital Exploitation Service (NDES), found a "wealth of incriminating material" on the phones.

A trial last year at Leeds Crown Court heard the material on the phones included an IS video demonstrating, on a real prisoner, how to kill with a knife.

Downloaded on 12 January 2022, it also shows how to make a bomb from easily obtainable chemicals - the ones Hassan had bought - and a bulb.

Among the people who followed Hassan's music was a 15-year-old from Leeds who went from fan to online friend.

Hassan and the teenager, who is now 17, exchanged thousands of messages and calls over several months

The jury was told they had used code words, including "cupcakes" for explosives, and "marketplace" for the attack itself.

In one video, Hassan posed with a machete, a knife and the chemicals he had bought.

"I need to go out looking nice, though - final moments and that," he said.

The 15-year-old, meanwhile, took pictures of himself with a hunting knife, in front of an IS flag, and messaged family members: "I just want martyrdom as soon as possible."

The jury was unable to decide if Hassan was guilty of preparing a terrorist act; a second trial in Sheffield collapsed after suggestions the jurors were falling asleep. That has led to the guilty plea at the Old Bailey on Friday on the lesser charge of possessing chemicals for terrorist purposes.

Hasan will be sentenced on 2 February.

An image of a hunting knife on a Koran, taken by the 15-year-old

Cdr Richard Smith, former head of Counter Terrorism Command, said the pair "bonded over their extremist beliefs".

He described "enormous pressure on the investigating team to make sure they didn't act too late".

"The level of concern that we had was such that we acted very, very quickly in this case," Cdr Smith said.

In police interviews and at the trials, Hassan said he was a "digital content creator" working in a provocative genre - not a terrorist - and the knives and chemicals were props for his drill rap videos.

When Hassan was arrested, the 15-year-old smashed up one of his phones.

During his own arrest, nine days later, he told officers: "I am a 15-year-old. I live at home. I'm chilling. Why would I prepare a terrorist attack? Do I look like that kind of person?"

Later, at the police station, he admitted: "I got taken in by the hype. I would never intentionally harm anyone."

There is deep concern among counter-terrorism detectives about the young age of many of those investigated.

One theory is Covid-19 lockdowns meant vulnerable teenagers spent more time online, without teachers or social workers spotting their changing attitudes.