GMP said the main instigator Saadaoui, of Abram in Wigan, had plotted to carry out what “could potentially have been the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history”.
Saadaoui came to the attention of the authorities when he used 10 Facebook accounts, none of which were in his own name, to spread a torrent of Islamic extremist views.
Farouk was deployed to gain his trust online and later in person.
Saadaoui used one of his fake accounts to join the Facebook group of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester which contained details of a “March Against Antisemitism” held in the city centre on 21 January last year which thousands attended.
Days later he told Farouk: “Here in Manchester, we have the biggest Jewish community.
“God willing we will degrade and humiliate them (in the worst way possible), and hit them where it hurts.”
He recruited fellow IS sympathiser Hussein, a Kuwaiti national, who worked and lived at a furniture shop in Bolton, Greater Manchester, to assist his plans.