How England's Doomsday Cult Infiltrated Crewe's Town Council

Be Scofield is a prominent cult reporter who exposed Love Has Won, which led to the hit HBO series. She is the author of Hunting Lucifer: One Reporter's Search for Cults and Demons. Her work is cited by the NY Times, Rolling Stone, People, and more. It was also turned into an episode of "Unwell" on Netflix.

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9/12/25

By BE SCOFIELD

When the doomsday cult known as the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light quietly relocated from Sweden to the northern English town of Crewe, few could have imagined they would set their sights on local government. But according to two former members, their leader, Abdullah Hashem—who calls himself the messianic “Savior”—hatched a plan to infiltrate the town council itself.

A former member named Yasir told me Hashem directed longtime follower Zafer Faqir to apply to Crewe’s town council in 2021. The goal, Yasir said, was to embed an informer who could anticipate inspections and any threats that might trigger oversight. And it worked. He was soon hired in the planning enforcement department.

While Faqir never revealed his cult ties to the council, inside the group his dual role was no secret. Yasir described how Hashem openly boasted about the scheme during a private gathering. “‘Crewe council is coming to inspect the house,’ Abdullah told us in the basilica,” Yasir recalled. “Zafer told us, ‘Tomorrow this inspection is going to come—and the good part is, I am the inspector.’”

Zafer Faqir is pictured (far right, green/white hoodie) inside the cult's Crewe compound, where he lives with Abdullah Hashem.

Faqir walked them through the process. “He told us what to do and what not to do,” Yasir told me. “He organized everything. He said, ‘In this room, this person will be there, and in this room, they’ll be over here.’ Everything was planned.”

“The group would have gotten violations had Zafer not been the inspector,” Yasir said. “The orphanage is known as a Grade II building, which means it is historic. There are many ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ with that type of building. You need permission for every change and upgrade.”

Zafer Faqir is currently a "senior enforcement planning officer" for Cheshire East Council.

A Loyal Disciple with a Bureaucratic Past

Before Crewe, Faqir served on the planning commission of the English city of Leicester for several years. He later moved to Dubai, where he worked under Yasir. “I was there when Abdullah gave him the plan to find a job in the Crewe council,” Yasir said. “He was very close with me. Zafer worked under me in Dubai for two years as a visa processing agent. In 2021, when we were both in Dubai, he applied for the job in Crewe.”

Faqir currently lives in the cult’s compound in Crewe, a former orphanage known as the Webb House. According to Yasir, he joined the movement in 2012 when it was still based in Egypt. Over the years, Hashem gradually indoctrinated him. By 2016, while serving as a planner in Leicester, Faqir was donating the majority of his salary to Hashem and the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light.

His personal life was also reshaped by Hashem’s control. Faqir had fallen in love with a woman in the UK, but she was not a believer. Hashem refused to allow him to marry her. “Zafer was so distraught over this that he had a punching bag, and he envisioned a picture of Abdullah on it,” Yasir said. “He would say, ‘I cannot have the love of my life!’” Instead, Hashem ordered him to marry an Egyptian woman within the group—a stark illustration of the cult’s control over its followers’ most intimate decisions.

“Privileged Access to Sensitive Information”

Another former member independently confirmed Yasir’s claims. “The sect has an infiltrator, Zafer Faqir, inside the Crewe Town Council,” the ex-member wrote to me. “He has privileged access to sensitive information.” He described it as a “clear case of institutional corruption.”

The source said Faqir receives advance notice of property inspections at both the cult’s compound and members’ homes in the area. “This allows the sect to receive early warnings and prepare to appear normal in front of the authorities while concealing abuse and manipulating every external inspection,” he said.

He added that Faqir has access to “internal communications within the council” and even “coordination with Children’s Services and the local police.”

A Pattern of Cult Infiltration

Experts say infiltration of local government has long been a tactic of cults seeking legitimacy. In the 1980s, the Rajneeshee cult in Oregon ran candidates for county office and even poisoned local salad bars to suppress opposition voters. Scientology famously planted moles in government agencies to sabotage investigations.

Zafer Faqir is a senior planning enforcer for Cheshire East Council.

The attempt to plant an insider in Crewe’s local government reveals how the group’s ambitions extend beyond religious evangelism. Hashem sought not just converts but bureaucratic leverage—the ability to shield the group from scrutiny, deflect oversight, and secure its foothold in the UK.