The man, who was not recognised as an imam in the Muslim faith, was one of 10 people arrested in France and Switzerland suspected of plotting a terror attack in France.
The arrested group, aged between 18 and 65, used encrypted messaging app Telegram to plan the alleged attack, an unnamed French judicial source said.
The 27-year-old imam, who was among the nine people arrested in France, is a Swiss national who converted to Islam three years ago, Swiss prosecutors said.
He had given himself the title of “emir,” and is believed to have “indoctrinated” the younger members of the Telegram chat group, of which he was the administrator.
The self-styled imam posed as an expert in Islam and made his online followers believe he had extensive knowledge and command of the Koran according to Europe 1 radio.
Europe 1 journalists who were able to read some of the Telegram messages sent by the imam, who went by the alias ‘Al-Bosni’, added he had told the members of the chat group that it was “OK to eat non-believers” if “absolutely necessary”.
Most of the suspects – including the imam – were known to police and had been flagged over their alleged radicalisation and links to radical extremist groups.
Credit to Express.co.uk
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