The shadowy agent known as ‘Farouk’ has been praised by a judge
17:57, 13 Feb 2026
Amar Hussein (blue hat) and Walid Saadaoui with undercover operative Farouk (blurred) overlooking the port of Dover(Image: Counter Terrorism Police North West)
As they plotted the mass murder of Jewish people in Manchester, the terrorists were oblivious. A huge surveillance operation backed by armed cops had been set up to stop them committing what, according to one senior cop, could have been the most deadly UK terror attack in history.
For five months the main plotter, Islamic State fanatic Walid Saadaoui, was unaware his plan and unvarnished anti-Semitism was being recorded by an undercover operative. Each time they met, surveillance teams were taking pictures and armed cops were on hand to pounce.
The pair met in person for the first time in Queens Park in Bolton on February 10, 2024. The undercover agent, named Farouk in court, told trial the defendant appeared ‘nervous’ and ‘unpredictable’ at first. It later emerged Walid had brought a knife.
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On March 16, 2024, Walid Saadaoui and his co-defendant Amar Hussein were captured on police surveillance conducting a reconnaissance exercise at the port of Dover through which they believed guns and ammunition for the attack were to be smuggled. They were captured at the National Trust’s White Cliffs park viewing the port below through binoculars.
Amar Hussein (blue hat) and Walid Saadaoui with undercover operative Farouk (blurred) overlooking the port of Dover(Image: Counter Terrorism Police North West)
The following day Walid Saadaoui escorted Farouk on a tour of potential targets in Cheetham Hill, Higher Broughton and Prestwich, walking by schools, synagogues and shops.
Walid Saadaoui was ‘caught red-handed’, according to the prosecution, in the car park of The Last Drop hotel north of Bolton on May 8, 2024, when Farouk arrived for a handover of the weapons.
Counter terror cops had observed him travelling south to Dover the previous day with Amar Hussein, where they believed Farouk would be crossing The Channel in a car packed with guns and ammunition for the attack.
Two assault rifles, a semi-automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition were in the boot of Farouk’s car for what the prosecution said was to be a handover. Walid was also awaiting delivery of a further two assault rifles, another pistol and another 700 rounds of ammunition, according to the Crown.
During each meeting of Farouk and Walid Saadaoui, Greater Manchester Police mounted huge operations in the background designed to protect the undercover operative and the public in case the terrorists decided to mount an earlier attack.
Walid Saadaoui, left, and Amar Hussein (Image: Greater Manchester Police)
It included armed cops ready to pounce if required. During the ‘strike day’ of May 8, 2024, most of GMP’s specialist resources were dedicated to the op, named Operation Catogenic. Four surveillance teams were watching the targets as part of a squad of up to 250 officers.
While Walid Saadaoui was being arrested at The Last Drop, Amar Hussein was also being arrested in a co-ordinated swoop. Their co-defendant Bilel Saadaoui was arrested at his gym in Bolton.
The senior officer who was in charge of the armed police and the support operation around Op Catogenic, Chief Superintendent Mark Dexter, praised the bravery of Farouk.
He said: “Because of the obvious threat posed by Walid and those involved, my role was really to support the investigation team and manage some of the risk. For obvious reasons sometimes that involved the deployment of armed officers to protect the public and protect Farouk. We had to have a lot of contingencies in place to keep people safe.”
Asked about the concern that someone might get hurt, he said: “It was a concern but it was a negligible risk. We were fairly confident Walid had plans to commit an attack in the future but there’s always that residual risk he would do something spontaneously. We had to have the right plan to mitigate that risk. The risk to Farouk was very well managed. Of course, there’s always a risk of compromise. We were very, very cautious around managing risk.
“We held many, many risk-assessment meetings.”
Chief Superintendent Mark Dexter, talks to the Manchester Evening News(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
Asked about the moment when Walid and his co-defendants Amar Hussein and Bilel Saadaoui were arrested in co-ordinated strikes, he said: “We were working on this for months and we knew this ultimately would be the outcome. But it was a sense of satisfaction. You only have to look at recent events to know how terrible this would have been had it been achieved. That’s what drove us through the whole operation really. Our combined effort was to prevent him from committing a terrorist attack.”
Asked what the impact could have been had the attack taken place, he said: “Catastrophic, if you look at the weapons they were seeking to obtain. AK47s, automatic high-calibre weapons, are capable of firing multiple shots very, very quickly. In the right environment, tens if not hundreds of people would have been hurt. We saw that with the Bataclan attack in Paris. It would have been devastation.”
Chief Superintendent Mark Dexter.(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
He also praised the bravery of Farouk. He said: “Accepting that he’s doing a job and he’s good at it, he’s taken some level of personal risk in being exposed to Amar and Walid. At the same time, that’s why we were involved. One of our duties is to protect our operatives. He was very, very skilled and well trained but we cannot rule out risk hence there will no doubt be praise for those involved.”
Asked how close it came to an actual terror attack, Chf Supt Dexter said: “The truth is they were never going to be able to carry out this attack. I’m sure the measures we put in place eliminated that risk. They believed they were really close to committing an attack but the truth is the measures we had in place, they were never going to commit that attack and the risk was eliminated.”
Tunisia-born Saadaoui, 38, of Crankwood Road, Abram, Wigan, and Kuwait-born Kurdish Iraqi Hussein, 52, of no fixed address, had denied terror charges but they were convicted in December last year following a three-month trial at Preston Crown Court.
They were convicted of preparation of terrorist acts, namely that between December 13, 2023, and May 9, 2024, with the intention of committing acts of terrorism, they arranged for the purchase and delivery of firearms, conducted reconnaissance and made plans of attack. They have been jailed for life.
A third defendant, Walid’s brother, Tunisia-born Bilel Saadaoui, 36, of Fairclough Street, Hindley, Wigan, has been jailed for six years after he was convicted of a single charge of failing to disclose acts of terrorism between the same dates. He had denied the charge.