A mysterious letter detailing a supposed Islamist plot to take over schools shocked Britain in 2014. But who wrote it? From Serial Productions and The New York Times, “The Trojan Horse Affair,” an investigation that became bigger than we ever imagined. All eight parts are coming next Thursday, February 3rd.
I happened to be in Birmingham, England, one night when this journalism student came up to me at an event.
He was talking fast, like I might walk away any second.
It was a tsunami that hit Birmingham.
Birmingham does not get national attention.
It was a circus, mate.
I can't even describe to you.
His name was Hamza Syed and he wanted help on his first ever story about a mystery in Birmingham, his hometown, that no one had ever solved.
It had begun a few years earlier when news of a strange letter exploded in the press.
A leaked letter outlining a plot by hardline Muslims.
The letter looked to be.
Well, Hamza, you want to explain this part?
The letter looked to be a secret communique between islamic extremists who had been infiltrating the city schools in a supposed plot called Operation Trojan Horse.
The letter was bizarre, unsigned, incoherent, badly xeroxed.
Yet still it sparked one of the biggest school scandals in british history.
Government investigators descended on Birmingham.
The country beefed up its counter terror policy.
By the time it all died down, schools were revamped, teachers lost their jobs.
Some people were banned for life from education.
The fallout has been huge.
Prime Minister David Cameron, as we said, is calling a special meeting of the government's extremism task force.