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Muslim three admit plan for Heathrow bomb blasts
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent14 Jul 2008
Three British Muslims today admitted attempting to cause explosions at Heathrow and the Commons.
But they deny it was part of a plot to kill thousands of passengers in a wave of co-ordinated suicide attacks using liquid bombs on jets flying from London to US and Canadian cities.
Instead, they claim they were planning to set off small devices around London - and targets such as oil refineries - in protest at UK foreign policy and had no intention to kill or cause injuries.
A three-month trial of eight men at Woolwich crown court has heard allegations of a plan to smuggle hydrogen peroxide hidden in Lucozade and Oasis soft drinks bottles on to jets.
Fears of the alleged plot led to restrictions on what liquids passengers can take on board planes.
Ahmed Abdulla Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 28, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, are said to be the ringleaders of the alleged mass murder plot.
They had pleaded not guilty to all charges but today decided to admit conspiracy to cause explosions. All three, along with Ibrahim Savant, 27, and Umar Islam, 30, also pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to cause a public nuisance by making martyrdom videos.
But the jury at Woolwich crown court must decide whether they - and three other defendants - are guilty of conspiracy to murder.
Their guilty pleas to the lesser charges came after all the evidence has been heard and before closing speeches are made.
Prosecutors claim eight men plotted to blow up passenger jets f lying from Heathrow. They planned to use hydrogen peroxide to bypass airport security, jurors were told. The devices would be detonated using a battery from a camera flash, it was claimed.
They were being assembled at a flat bought by the gang for cash in Forest Road, Walthamstow, the court heard. The same flat was used by six members of the gang to record videos in which they ranted hatred against the West and non-Muslims, jurors were told. Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said the men were "almost ready to go" as the plot came to fruition. He said the gang had enough hydrogen peroxide and other materials to make at least 20 soft drink bombs.
He said Ali was caught with a blueprint for the operation recorded in a pocket diary and on a computer memory stick.
A total of 18 litres of hydrogen peroxide and other bomb-making equipment were found hidden at Sarwar's home and in woodland nearby, the court heard.
A specific date for the attacks had not been fixed but police discovered timetables of f lights between July and October 2006 with seven flights highlighted.
There was one flight each highlighted from Heathrow to San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, Washington and New York and two to Chicago.
Mr Wright said every member of the gang was signed up for a deadly attack which was aimed at "shocking the world" and striking fear into the hearts of millions. He said the gang was "ready, able and willing to commit carnage for the sake of Islam". Summingup the prosecution case, he said: "It was their chance to achieve immortality and notoriety in equal measure. We say from the deployment of this evidence before you, we say you can be sure of the involvement of each of these men in a plot to murder as many civilian passengers as possible upon as many civilian aircraft as possible."
Mr Wright said: "Each was prepared to kill and to do so on a wholly indiscriminate basis, irrespective of age, belief, sex and to do so without the slightest blink of an eye." He added: "The horizon in respect of Sarwar's terrorist ambition was limitless."
In their defence, Ali and Sarwar said they planned to record a documentary highlighting injustices against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. A small explosion at the Houses of Parliament in which no one would be hurt would act as a publicity stunt to draw attention to the programme. The two men also considered other targets such as Heathrow's Terminal Three and other "iconic" buildings. Ali and the five other men who recorded videos said they were acting the role of violent hate-filled extremists and the footage would be woven into the video.
The jury saw videos showing some of the accused praising Osama bin Laden and trying to justify their alleged plan to kill civilians.
In his video, Ali describes how he would carry out his mission for "myself, my family and those close to me" to "punish and humiliate the unbeliever to teach them a lesson that they will never forget".
Mr Wright said: "This was no propaganda video, no documentary, no exercise or stunt - this was for real."
The prosecutor said the explanations by each defendant of their actions were "inherently improbable, hollow and bogus".
Ali, of Walthamstow, Hussain, of Leyton, Sarwar, of High Wycombe, bus inspector Islam, (born Brian Young), of West Ham, Savant, of Stamford Hill, Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, of Walthamstow, Waheed Zaman, 24, of Walthamstow, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking, all deny conspiracy to murder by detonation of improvised explosive devices on board transatlantic aircraft and conspiracy to murder between January and August 2006.
The trial continues.
