£250k seized from activist facing terror charges

It has emerged that Leicestershire Police seized assets worth over a quarter of a million pounds from a man accused of committing terrorist offences on social media.

Majid Novsarka from Leicester, who is also known as Majid Freeman, has denied two charges and is due to go on trial next year.

Details of the seizures are set out in a court document in a case which has been listed for a magistrate's hearing in November.

The assets seized include well over £200,000 in cash and several crypto-currency wallets.

The document from Nottingham Magistrates' Court sets out six separate applications by Leicestershire Police against Novsarka under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.

One request is for the forfeiture of £239,008 of what the document describes as "terrorist cash" seized on 19 March last year.

The 38-year-old, who built his social media profile as a community activist and charity fundraiser, has always denied any involvement in terrorism.

A spokesman for CAGE, which represents him, told the BBC there has been no determination about what the money was for, and that charity work often involves holding and transferring cash.

The court document indicates that Leicestershire Police has made four separate applications to continue holding detained "cryptoasset-related items" held by KuCoin, Nest, Revolut and CB Payments.

Those crypto wallets are valued at a total of $36,069, equivalent to around £26,000.

The force has also applied for Novsarka to forfeit an undisclosed amount of money in an account that was frozen in July 2024.

The six applications are due to be considered at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 10 November.

Novsarka's trial is due to open at Birmingham Crown Court in September 2027.

He has pleaded not guilty to two terrorism charges which relate to his social media posts.

Novsarka denies using his accounts to encourage support for Hamas, which is proscribed under terrorism legislation.

He also denies using a post about the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris to encourage his online followers to carry out a similar attack.

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