A notorious London mosque that has been linked to Al Qaeda recruitment has also been holding AK-47 training sessions.

MI5 recruited worshippers at Finsbury Park who opposed the hardline stance taken by controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, who often leads prayers there, and asked them to help monitor the activities of extremists. Early last year the agents told their handlers that several groups had been taught to strip and reassemble Kalashnikovs in the mosque’s basement. It was not clear if the guns were live or deactivated weapons, which can legally be owned in the UK.

Hamza, the most influential and radical of the prayer leaders at the mosque, said yesterday that, as far as he knew, no ‘harmful’ activities had ever taken place there. However, he admitted that he could not monitor all areas of the mosque.