Some of you (mostly people living in the same country as me, no doubt…) may be aware that, as a result of the recent Glasgow Airport bombings, various individuals not among those initially arrested have come under suspicion including this guy who, today, was charged with “providing support to a terrorist organization”
Now, I’ll freely admit that my use of mobile/cell phones is limited enough that I don’t really know jack shit about SIM cards and the use thereof, other than that they go in your phone and hold your address book. So maybe it’s my ignorance talking but… I really don’t see how this guy giving his SIM card to the British terror suspects aided their cause at all. I mean, SIM cards are not exactly a restricted commodity. There was nothing to stop the Glasgow bombers buying their own SIM card, right? And if they were worrying about not wanting their calls to be traced to them…they don’t actually do an ID check on you when buying a SIM card, do they? If you have, say, a prepaid plan so you aren’t getting bills sent to a particular address, aren’t you basically anonymous?
So my question: is there any legitimacy to this charge? Did this guy actually provide his friends with an advantage in doing terror planning that they wouldn’t have got any other way? (also, if he had any knowledge at all of what they were going to do, how stupid is that? “yeah mate, can you give us your SIM card so when we use our phones to plot illegal activities it won’t be traced to us” :rolleyes: )
Or is this just a case of “everyone’s been on our backs about holding him in custody without charge for a week, so we gotta charge him with something”?