Jailed pal of hate preachers Omar Bakri and Anjem Choudary facing police investigation for attempting to radicalise his cellmate
A POISON pal of hate preachers Omar Bakri and Anjem Choudary is being probed by cops after trying to radicalise his cell mate in jail.
He was said to have been shown beheading videos.
Rajib Khan, 38, was jailed in February for five years for hailing ISIS and trying to lure people to Syria.
But prison chiefs at privately-run Altcourse jail in Liverpool were alerted after his fellow con’s family became alarmed at their relative’s behaviour.
Officers searched the pair’s cell over claims beheading videos had been shown to the innocent man on a smuggled mobile phone.
The handset was recovered and is now being forensically examined by cops.
Khan, a close aide of both Omar Bakri and Anjem Choudary, has since been moved into a single cell at the G4S-run prison.
His bid to recruit his cell mate, who’s identity remains unknown, is the most high-profile case of suspected radicalisation in Britain’s jails in recent years.
Ministers are determined to stamp out the problem following the last year’s Acheson Review, which warned of extremism spreading in UK prisons.
The report recommended special units - dubbed “jihadi jails” - to hold the most dangerous Islamist cons.
Last week it emerged Choudary was one of the first extremists to be moved to the new high-security wings.
He was among a handful of radicals placed in the segregated unit at HMP Frankland in Co Durham.
The move aims to stop Choudary and others spreading their hateful views to others in the prison population.
Khan, a member of banned group Al-Muhajiroun, was a close pal of both Bakri and Choudary.
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He even attended an extremist winter “retreat” with Bakri in Derbyshire, posing for photos with his arms round Bakri’s shoulder.
Khan’s nephew Junead Khan, 26, was jailed for life last year for plotting to kidnap and kill a US airman with butcher’s knives.
And a third member of the terror family, Shazib Khan, 24, was jailed for eight years.
There are thought to be about 13,000 Muslims in jail with more than 1,000 of them identified as extremists or vulnerable to being radicalised.
Last night a G4S spokesman said: A spokesman for HMP Altcourse said: “Our team seized a mobile phone from this prisoner in early May and it was passed to the police.
“The prisoner’s regime was restricted and he was put in a single cell.
“Where we suspect men might be spreading hatred or radicalising others, we will act swiftly to refer evidence or intelligence to the police and security services.”