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Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A man was charged on Wednesday with terrorism in what authorities say was a plot to assassinate British Prime Minister Theresa May. Andrew Parker, head of British counterintelligence agency MI5, informed Cabinet members of the plot on Tuesday, Sky News reported.
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Naa'imur Zakariyah Rahman, 20, was charged with preparing acts of terrorism. An alleged colleague, Mohammad Aqib Inram, 21, was accused of trying to join the Islamic State and attempting to counterfeit a passport to travel to Libya.
Both men, British residents arrested on Nov. 28 by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, appeared in London's Westminster Magistrates' Court Wednesday.
Court documents say Rahman planned to detonate an explosive device at the gates of 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence and office, and then assassinating May "in the ensuing chaos.
"The secondary attack on No. 10 was to be carried out with a suicide vest, pepper spray and a knife," the documents said.
Prosecutors added that Rahman conducted a prior "hostile reconnaissance" of the area, and in recorded conversations revealed a plan to "attack, kill and cause explosions," CNN reported Wednesday.
Rahman was arrested the same day an official MI5 report said it's foiled nine British terrorist attacks in 2017. It also acknowledged that it missed opportunities to stop a suicide attack on an indoor concert in Manchester in May that killed 22 people.
