Inside the state's case against the terror-accused Thulsie twins

Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom‚ Muslim Gangs‚ and the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook is some of the reading material alleged to have been consumed by terror-accused twins Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie as they planned attacks.

The state alleges that the 23-year-old identical twins were doing research to assist them in carry out terrorist attacks in South Africa after their attempts to leave the country to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) failed.

The Thulsies appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday‚ where the state disclosed its provisional indictment in the matter.

The indictment details 12 counts against the brothers relating to contraventions of the Protection of the Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act and fraud.

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In isolation some of the brothers' activities outlined in the indictment‚ such as an Internet search on cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro‚ who is known by his pseudonym Zapiro‚ looks innocent.

But when the puzzle is pieced together a dark picture is painted by the state.

The state alleges that the Thulsies planned attacks on US‚ British‚ French‚ Russian and Jewish interests in South Africa and to kill Shapiro‚ affluent Jews and an unidentified gay imam.

King David High School in Johannesburg is also one of the targets named by the state.

“The said terrorist activities would have been perpetrated by using firearms‚ explosives and possibly poisons‚” the indictment said.

King David's general director Rabbi Craig Kacev said the school had been informed by authorities of the twins' alleged plans.

“Our schools are always on high alert. All schools should be in light of what is happening around the world. Anyone could be a target.

“Security is a high priority for us.”

In August 2015‚ Tony-Lee allegedly chatted with Abu Fidaa‚ an ISIL network‚ and other unknown people‚ on messaging application Telegram. He was instructed to‚ “kill Zapiro who drew the Messenger of Allah cartoon”.

He was allegedly also informed that “South Africa was part of the war against terrorism in that it supplied weapons to Arab states and contributed to African Union military initiatives”.

The indictment said‚ "South Africa was labelled as a 'great supporter and propagator of gays and democracy'."

The brothers are also accused of collecting documents and reading material to plan attacks.

“The purpose of the planned terrorist attacks was to intimidate the governments of the United States of America‚ United Kingdom‚ France‚ the Russian Federation and the South African government‚ as well as the Jewish‚ Shia Muslim and other foreign communities in South Africa‚ to cause or spread feelings of terror‚ fear or panic in the civilian population‚” the indictment said.

The brothers conducted Internet searches for the physical address of Denel‚ a state-owned company which manufactures and sells arms‚ and news articles relating to its activities.

Tony-Lee had allegedly made screen-grabs of online searches for the Wikipedia page for Shapiro‚ the Twitter account of investment manager and “proud Zionist” Roy Topol and the Twitter page for The South African Zionist Federation.

He allegedly also received the particulars for the First Secretary to the French Mission in South Africa via Telegram.

Brandon-Lee allegedly acquired the Mujahideen Poisons Handbook‚ by Abdek-Aziz‚ and a manual called How to Survive in the West: A Mujahid Guide.

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The state claims that the brothers collected issues of Inspire‚ the official al-Qaeda magazine in the Arabian Peninsula.

The multiples issues contained an illustrated guide on making explosive devices‚ incited participation in violent Jihad and provided training in weapons and combat‚ the indictment said.

Tony-Lee allegedly acquired pages from an Inspire issue‚ which carried an article titled “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom”.

Tony-Lee is also accused of discussing the terrorist plans with an undercover US cop.

“From May 1 2016 to June 24 2016 [Tony-Lee] used an encrypted messenger application to communicate with a person whom he believed to be an ISIL terrorist based in the United States. In fact‚ unbeknown to him‚ the person was an undercover agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”

Tony-Lee allegedly sought advice on how to make explosive devices and asked for funding.

He is also accused of soliciting support for ISIL using his personal Facebook page. He allegedly criticised Muslims for uniting against the Mujahideen and appealed to them to turn their backs on the "coward‚ sellout opinions of your sheikh‚ iman‚ scholars and so-called ulamah".

The case was postponed to May 15 to finalise the transfer of the matter to the High Court.

Prosecutor Chris MacAdam said a decision had to be made whether a fraud charge‚ for an alleged crime which took place in Ficksburg‚ Free State‚ was to be consolidated and tried with the other charges in the Gauteng High Court.

The brothers allegedly left South Africa using the Ficksburg border post‚ with Lesotho passports in the names of Christian Adams Leroy and Germain Adams Troy.

“At the time when the accused made the said misrepresentations they were fully aware of the fact that the passports were false‚” the indictment said.