Teenager found guilty of plotting terror attack at Justin Bieber concert

[Photo by: Justin Bieber/Facebook]

A 17-year-old boy has been found guilty of plotting a terror attack on the day of a Justin Bieber concert in Cardiff, Wales, after he searched the internet for details of the event's security, a court has determined.

As we previously reported, the teenager—who cannot be named due to his age—was detained by police on June 30. Authorities uncovered a claw hammer, a kitchen knife and a “martyrdom letter” in his school bag. On his computer, they found an image of the poster for the concert at Principality Stadium as well as evidence of his online searches for “Justin Bieber Cardiff security.”

According to Billboard, the teen has been found guilty of “one charge of engaging in the preparation of a terrorist act, two charges of encouraging terrorism and two charges of possessing terrorist information.”

The Guardian reports that the boy's “martyrdom letter” stated he would “run down the non-believers with a car” and “strike the infidels who oppose Allah in the neck.” A note in the teen's bedroom read, “I am a soldier of the Islamic State. I have attacked Cardiff today because your government keep on bombing targets in Syria and Iraq. There will be more attacks in the future.”

The boy reportedly denied any plans to carryout the attack, and his lawyer argued the internet searches were merely the result of his “stupid interest in the gory,” per the BBC. The teen also told the jury that he doesn't own a Qur'an and was only curious in how easy it was to search for terrorism subjects online.

“I wanted to see how easy it was for people who had an interest in terrorism to go online and get information because the police and the government are trying to crack down on terrorism,” the teen said, as reported by the Guardian. “I wanted to see if it was possible… from someone else's point of view.”

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 10.