Terrorists of the Shabab Al Manara group, which is backed by Syria's Al Nusra Front and Iran's Balochistan Liberation Front, had smuggled weapons and ammunition into the United Arab Emirates in order to overthrow the government and establish an Isis-like caliphate in the country.
The plot came to light during the trial of suspected terrorists in UAE's Federal Supreme Court on Monday.
Witnesses told the court that the terrorists had smuggled weapons, ammunition and detonators into the UAE in order to launch terror attacks at shopping malls and hotels to kills scores of people and to overthrow the government, Gulf News reported.
The intention of the Shabab Al Manara terror group was to create and Islamic caliphate in the United Arab Emirates on the lines of the Islamic State. They were provided with weapons by the AL Nusra Front, the Al Qaeda affiliate terror group in Syria.
"To carry out their terrorist acts, the suspects procured firearms, ammunition and explosives using funds they raised for this purpose and communicated with foreign militants. These militants provided these suspects with funds and people to achieve their goals inside the country," Salem Saeed Kubaish, UAE's Attorney-General, was quoted saying.
Among the arms seized from the terrorists' desert camp in the UAE were Kalashnikov rifles, MP5 and M16 machineguns, as well as explosives for bombs.
Apart from planning to carry out terror attacks, the Al Manara group also attempted to radicalise youths by criticising the UAE government and sharing extremist content online and also tried to recruit members to carry out attacks in the country.
The militants would reportedly meet at schools and mosques in Dubai, according to the report.
40 suspected terrorists, most of them from UAE itself, were on trial, and if convicted, are likely to face capital punishment or life imprisonment.
