Cryptocurrency: Cardiff terrorist Khuram Iqbal jailed over trading

A convicted terrorist has been jailed for 16 months over his cryptocurrency trading on the dark web.

Khuram Iqbal, 29, from Cardiff, was originally jailed in 2014 for three years and three months for disseminating terrorist publications and possessing terrorist information.

He was released on licence in May 2015 but recalled to jail in 2016.

Iqbal breached a 10-year notification order by failing to tell police about two cryptocurrency accounts.

He pleaded guilty to four breaches between July 2019 and August this year and appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced by Mr Justice Sweeney.

The defendant had originally been jailed after having copies of the al Qaida Inspire magazine.

Iqbal made 848 posts about violent jihad on six Facebook accounts and Twitter in 2013 using the name Abu Irhaab, which is Arabic for "father of terrorism".

On Tuesday, the court heard he had traded in cryptocurrency via an account with online platform Coinbase.

Between November 10 2017 and March 20 2021 there were 392 transactions with nearly £12,000 deposited.

In January 2020, Iqbal made three Bitcoin transactions on a site on the dark web used for selling stolen credit card credentials.

Coinbase issued a suspicious activity report prompting a police investigation.

In August this year, police searched the defendant's address in Kings Road, Cardiff, and seized Iqbal's mobile phone.

An examination of the device revealed cryptocurrency applications as well as a browser enabling access to the dark web.

Interviewed by police, Iqbal said he dealt in cryptocurrency but denied using the dark web.

Prosecutor Paul Jarvis said: "The nature of cryptocurrency is that it is not traceable so the reality is he was in a position to operate two email addresses and two cryptocurrency accounts beneath the radar of the police."

He said there did not appear to be any "lawful reason" for the transactions.

Mr Justice Sweeney rejected the defence's assertion that the breaches were not deliberate or that there was no significance in the dark web site.

He told the defendant: "The very nature of cryptocurrency is that it is untraceable and in the end with both your emails and cryptocurrency accounts below the surface, you were able to conduct in numerical terms a considerable amount of trading in cryptocurrency under the radar of the requirements in circumstances where that should not have been the case."

The judge handed Iqbal 16 months in prison with a further year on extended licence.