London Cab Driver Leads Religious Cult In Attempted Coup
The gun-toting gang marauded through the streets of the Pakistani city claiming the end of the world was nigh and that people should herald a new leader sent by God to save them on "Judgment Day".
"Our leader Shahbaz Khan is Imam Mehdi and he'll grace the world at 4pm after a severe earthquake. All Muslims are directed to contact him immediately," announced one follower, without a hint of irony, over a megaphone.
Until late last year, Shahbaz Ahmed, 39, a married father of three, was working for Courier Cars, whose modest offices are at Norwood Junction. Ahmed, 39, is a British passport-holder of Pakistani descent who also uses the names Shahbaz Khan and Shahbaz Ali. If found guilty of terrorist offences or blasphemy he could be executed in Pakistan.
According to the Pakistani police, Ahmed claimed during his failed coup that he was the Imam Mehdi, a religious leader who some believe will appear on Earth shortly before the world ends.
Ahmed allegedly marched through the crowded streets of Faisalabad, an industrial city in central Punjab, with nearly 40 armed followers. Members of the public were ordered at gunpoint to acknowledge the appearance of Imam Mehdi. Most succumbed to the threats but one man and a woman were wounded when the disciples opened fire on a group that refused. Others were beaten up.
Police sources say the disciples then travelled in a lorry and car and on two motorcycles to Lahore, where they took over a private television station and announced "the resurgence of Imam Mehdi". When they were confronted by armed police the gunmen drove to the outskirts of the city, where they seized a bus and took its passengers hostage.
According to sources in Pakistan, Ahmed and his followers believe Mohammed to be the last of God's prophets but that the Imam Mehdi would appear before the Day of Judgment. In Pakistan Ahmed is said to have supported a free society in which a man could have sex with any woman of his choice. Among his disciples were at least seven married women in their thirties.
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