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Heathrow bomb plot 'terror banker' free in London
Justin Davenport and Ross Lydall8 Sep 2009
A suspected key figure in the airliner bomb plot is an alleged al Qaeda activist living freely in
London, it can be revealed today.
Intelligence sources have indicated that surveillance of Mohammed al Ghabra played a vital role in uncovering the bid to blow up seven planes flying from Heathrow to America.
Three British Muslims, members of an east London terror cell, were found guilty yesterday of planning to smuggle bombs of liquid explosive on board in soft drinks bottles.
Anti-terrorist sources have told the Standard that Al Ghabra helped arrange for members of the airliner gang to travel to training camps in Pakistan.
Al Ghabra, 29, has been linked to the failed 21/7 bombings in London in 2005, and is named in US government documents as someone “who provides material and logistical support to al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations”.
He has been arrested in the past. Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist police have raided his flat in Forest Gate, where he lives with his mother and sister, looking for explosives and weapons.
He has been listed by the UK Treasury as a terrorist financier, and has been subject to financial restrictions.
But he has denied being the “banker” responsible for financing training missions to Pakistan and to fight against coalition forces in Iraq.
The Syrian-born man, who became a British citizen, is unemployed and describes himself as a Muslim missionary.
Al Ghabra has said: “I don't have the capability of supporting anyone financially, barely myself ... If anyone has the evidence, please show it to me. I am not the banker.”
However, his name is published on a United Nations Security Council list of terrorist suspects linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban. He also appears on a list maintained by Interpol which states there is a ban on him travelling abroad.
He has also been accused of maintaining contact with senior al Qaeda figures in Pakistan and staying at the home of one of the group's leaders.
Security services believe Al Ghabra arranged for 21/7 ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim to travel to Pakistan to undergo bomb training before he and three others attempted to detonate devices on the transport network a fortnight after the 7/7 attacks in which 52 people died.
Al Ghabra was held in Belmarsh prison for nine months after being charged with fraud and possessing a document that could be useful to terrorism but was acquitted in 2004.
In a letter to Al Ghabra in 2006, the Treasury told him: “The Treasury has reasonable grounds for suspecting that you are, or may be, a person who facilitates the commission of acts of terrorism.”
In the same year the US treasury froze any assets he held under US jurisdiction.
The US treasury said at the time that Al Ghabra “has backed al Qaeda and other violent jihadist groups, facilitating travel for recruits seeking to meet with al Qaeda leaders and take part in terrorist training”.
Several of these individuals “have returned to the UK to engage in covert activity on behalf of al Qaeda”, the document said.
Reader views (60)
To all those who are unhappy with government policies, you are free to leave this country!!
- Akim, London, 10/09/2009 07:49
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Whatever Govt foreign policies, Conservative or Labour, they often don't act in concordance with the mass of the British people. There must be countless new Britons and their descendants who voted in Blair. Many will be Muslims. Strange to consider that they carry more responsibility for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan than people who voted for the Green Party or the Liberals. Thousands marched against the war in Iraq, they had little impact.
- John, London, 09/09/2009 11:34
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Of course the government don't worry about people like this. They are importing immigrants and protecting known and suspected islamic terrorists, giving them citizenships and letting them vote. And there is the nub! Brown wants votes. He is power mad and does not care a hoot about English people or British people. There are many thousands of these suspected and known islamic terrorists harboured in this country and they will all vote for Labour and that is what Brown cares about.
- Lin, London England, 09/09/2009 07:04
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There are issues of security that most of us as ordinary civilians can ever understand, or accept. Terrorism is not the problem but rather a symptom of the problem even a consequence. It speaks volumes when we think that this individual is a problem, he is the unbroken chain between an act and the consequence of some or most of our country's foreign policy decisions please live with it (mostly done under conservative governments). There are decisions that have been made in the interest of security that affect our national security in the long-term. This is the spiralling anomaly created by containing pockets of conflict and protecting our 'interests' in various regions.
- Henry, London, 09/09/2009 06:41
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Good enough for me if the intelligence surveillance on this "gentleman" prevented several civilian planes being blown up. Mistaking public anger for "droolings" is a blinkered, stupid reaction. The BNP polling results are not all down to racists. That was public declaration of anger as despair and desperation by some. An over liberal attitude has given way to mounting public backlash against PC rule, and unworkable policies. Just be thankful the backlash does not take the course of hysterical mass demonstrations, burning of flags, demands to kill, from British people. All this we saw on our streets during the Danish cartoons and other hardline muslim demonstrations. Freedom to print was shut down then. So were other publishings. Maybe it's such a long time since people were able to speak out and speak their minds, that people mistake plain speaking for "droolings". Don't forget also, that this man made a mess of his life in his homeland and is now supported financially by the British working public. No one's asking him to be grateful, but any whiff of seeking to harm those who he's chosen to come and live amongst, or to betray them, is obviously going to bring much negative reaction against him.
- Andrew, London, 08/09/2009 23:17
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@ Kerry Trubee, Purley
Actually we don't need you or your corrupt incompetent socialist mates.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 08/09/2009 22:12
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..As is his 'Yuman Rite'.....
- Joannie, London, England, 08/09/2009 20:14
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Kerry Trubee, Purley
How patronising you are
Ex Pats who live abroad have every right to an opinion. I will go to Love in Brazil ( Where I have a house bought and paid for)when I retire if this government has not totally screwed up my pension by then. At least I've got less chance of getting blown up there. And I paid for my own portuguese lessons.
- Ted, London, 08/09/2009 18:00
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So the goodies have just got home and taken off their anti every thing coats! Well Kerry of Purley the police dont shoot children any more in Brasil. Also the reason we choose not to live in England is because of the way it is run by a cowardly government who are too afraid to speak out against the influx of danger.However as long as there are people like you to protect them,you are all safe.Try popping down the mosque next week for chat or speakers corner,you see the threat.Flown abroad lately?
- Allan Clarke, Brasil, 08/09/2009 17:46
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Allan Clarke; it is possible that we are well rid of you. A friend who mistakenly married a Brazilian woman was glad to get out of Brazil; being robbed at knife point on a regular basis was not his idea of a stroll in the park.
Ab London: and the rest of you idiots; wait until this man had actually been convicted of a crime.
- Dectora, London UK, 08/09/2009 17:38
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look i know this guy and he is innocent. if he did anything wrong then why have the police not arrested him and charged him ??
they have no evidence so let's treat him with respect.
- Abdul Haq, london, 08/09/2009 17:07
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shame on u lot.this man hasn't been proved guilty and yet everyone keeps on posting comments about him being a terrorist etc... Some of u r saying he is living on benefit but u don't have a clue about ur own history, about how british rulers were stealing each and every country they were trying to conquer. They r getting billions through diego garcia and lots more through oil in iraq.if it wasn't for the savagery of your rulers, you lot would have been paupers. So for gods sake plz stop commenting on people who r living on benefit. Islam is a religion of peace and unity, it was never spread by sword, the millions of christians in the arab world is a proof to that.if islam will be the biggest religion in europe by 2020 let it be.do not try to put some fabricated blame on any practising muslims or religious schools that will create imams who will lead people in prayers and preach islam to other community. Read about islam 1st and don't judge it by what you see in the media.things like 9 11 or 7 7 were done by the gov to justify their so called war on terror.watch loose change or ripple effect which were done by non muslims
- S.M, london uk, 08/09/2009 17:01
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The gentleman is now a British Citizen and cannot be sent into exile. He also has the same rights as other folks living in this country and is innocent until proven guilty. In fact he has already been acquited in 2004. Well I am still proud to live in a country where the rule of law applies. If he commits a crime and is found guilty then judge him on that rather than accusations from unnamed sources. I am sure he is not the only man not in work and living off benefits.
- Tim, Woodford Green, Essex, 08/09/2009 16:53
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Good grief, what a lot of drooling, ranting dolts who blog on here! I don't think I've ever seen such a rabid bunch of numptys. Has this man actually been convicted of anything? i believe he was charged with something and acquitted, which means he is not guilty.
he may be a nasty, possibly dangerous individual, but until he commits a crime, keep your stupid ignorant comments to yourselves.
What really gets me is the huge amount of pathetic anti English rants from ex-pats. All of you from Brazil (where the police kill street children), The US where they kill more people than anywhere except China and iran, Abu Dhabi, built on corruption and slavery, also where the government of that state actually supports the imposition of Sharia law on the UK. You no longer live here, mainly because you couldn't cut it here and now you snipe from abroad. Shut up we don't need you.
- Kerry Trubee, Purley, 08/09/2009 16:51
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Have him come to Canada. We have such tolerant immigration laws that he'll fit right in next to the American border.
- Dann, Victoria, BC, 08/09/2009 16:35
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Liberalism has had its day in the UK and sadly in theory A great and noble way to live has proved to be an unmitigated disaster.We need to get tough with these characters and show them no mercy,can you imagine the absolute horror if they succeeded to blow up airliners?Our whole country would be in turmoil.Well done to the security services; we cannot drop our guard against these people.We must be ever vigilant and take note of what happens around us.Lets not tolerate people like this in society before we get our own 9/11.
- Tony Essex, Uk, 08/09/2009 16:23
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Great comments,but you reap what you sow.So only now you are protesting and shouting about this man.There are plenty more ! you have all sat back while Britain has tollerated this invasion and now it is too late.The British government are even prepared to forgive and forget.
I fore seen this situation 30 years ago and i am 45yrs old now.Thats why i got out.
- Allan Clarke, Brasil, 08/09/2009 16:17
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Race relations are one sided from the wrong side and has killed this country; I see no difference between people like this and the BNP. All of them, spiteful humans making this country a hideous place to live for people who do not wish any harm on anyone and that is our weakness our failure to punish scum hard.
- Gary, Brentwood, 08/09/2009 16:17
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Straw Jack and deporting muslims don,t make me laugh he relies on them for his votes.
This Nuliebour bunch of numpties have got about as much backbone as a jellied eel.
These muslim wannabe terrorists are walking our streets freely and in a lot of cases we are paying them to do so,when is this madness going to stop?.
On the basis of Meghari for oil etc: no time soon I expect,and to boot our lads are dying in Afgahnistan on the pretext of protecting us from terrorists,the terrorists are here now.
- Roy.C, wigan.england., 08/09/2009 16:12
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Along with Finsbury Park, Forest Gate in London seems to be the epicentre of all terrorist activity in the UK. Barely one of these stories breaks without someone from the area being involved in these activities in one way or another. Perhaps they should start the ID card scheme at the job centres in this area first and see which people suddenly run out the country.
- Hansel, London, 08/09/2009 15:55
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Amazing. With all this evidence this man should have been deported to Syria and the British passport taken away from him. I am a Muslim man who has been granted British citizenship and would die for this country. It’s extremist like this who give moderate Muslims like me a bad name. This fat idiot does not look like a man whose done a hard days work in his life. He should be ashamed to be on benefit. It’s racist to say that loser should be kicked out of the UK ASAP. He chose to support terrorism, so if he’s tortured when he’s returned to Syria so be it.
- Ahmed, London, 08/09/2009 15:28
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My god Sean!!!! i dont want him on our building sites or working our roads, thanks very much. he should be deported nothing less will do.
- Annie, croydon, 08/09/2009 15:11
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Pay close attention David Cameron - we want you to deal with people like this, lock them up OR deport them OR ban them from getting benefits - yes you'll have the usual liberals whining but believe me, you will have the support of the vast majority of the "man on the street".
DO IT, before it's too late. Islamification is Britain's biggest threat while the guilty white liberals wring their hands and don't do anything in case someone thinks they are, god forbid, "racist".
- James Lll, Scotland, 08/09/2009 15:03
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Day by day the destruction of Britain continues, Nu Labour has been more effective than any enemy the Country has ever faced, for they have planted seeds which even now are bearing their destructive fruit. And they continue to nourish them in a state of delusional ideological insanity.
- Frank, Dorchester Dorset, 08/09/2009 15:02
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60 now, voted labour since I was 18 but NEVER NEVER again. They have ruined this country, have no back bone and let people like this guy roam freely spending OUR money. We get what we vote for
- Ted, London, 08/09/2009 14:44
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"The Syrian-born man, who became a British citizen, is unemployed" What a suprise! A complete overhaul of our immigration and welfare systems is needed to stop the infux of immigrants that abuse our systems for their own agendas. Our government needs to hang their heads in shame as our country is a laughing stock of the world.
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 08/09/2009 14:35
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In the 1980's, Spanish PM Felipe Gonzalez formed the GAL; an illegal specialist undercover group (uncannily similar to the SAS) that actively sought out ETA speakers, terrorists & hideouts with the sole objective of disbanding, disarming & basically eliminating all levels of terrorist threat under a sort "licence to eliminate" without raising the least of suspicions among the country at large. Few records have shown just how much they got up to, but records were actually not even kept .
Gonzalez lost a general election when this was exposed by Aznar's Popular party & all the groups mandatories were duly processed.
It's politically, morally & ethically wrong. It was wrong period. But it gives tremendous food for thought...
- Yes, madrid, 08/09/2009 14:28
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Shame on you lot,persecuting this poor man and many like him !! I DONT THINK. about time some realist comments.However are you the same people who scream RACiSM when some people try to prevent this sort of thing happening in England???
- Allan Clarke, Brasil, 08/09/2009 14:06
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He's restricted from finacial dealings by sanctions imposed by governemnt and so we pay him out of our own tax from our pockets. Its unbelievable how do we go about stripping him of UK passport? we should get onto it right away.
This govt's actions get more unbelievable everyday.
In Switzerland I heard the locals get a vote on anyone who may be offered a Swiss passport. Here UK passports are just handed out to anyone.
- Rikrok, London, 08/09/2009 14:05
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Hey, he's wearing pyjamas! Forgot to get dressed before going out on the street, how embarrassing.
- Ray Milano, London W2, 08/09/2009 13:59
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He's a kept man. A man of shame.
You can't get more lowdown shameful than that. Where you're a young fit male, and do not even support the wife you take on or the children you produce. What kind of a man comes to another country but cannot even feed his own children?
Every beggar has more dignity. They go out, face the world and employ some effort to put bread in their mouths. By his willingness to live on state support this man has no respect and no dignity. He represents Muslims as spongers and scroungers. He is less than a beggar.
- Naz, Coventry, 08/09/2009 13:20
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Total madness,this could only happen in Britain,there is no logic or sense in allowing this scumbag to roam our streets-why isn't he in prison? or deported?,what about our human rights?,who will defend them for us?.This rotten government has blood on its hands,the blood of its own citizens,-traitors to a man,labour or tory there is no difference.
- Aufdeutsch, Canterbury Kentish Gulag EUSSR., 08/09/2009 13:13
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I think the comment from Dan Khryt, Syria, sums it up perfectly; kicked out of his own country yet we let him in and protect his human rights.
What on earth have we become?
- Scott, London, 08/09/2009 13:08
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This stupidity could only happen in PC 'uman rites' Britain. We are the laughing stock of the world
- Trevn, Abu Dhabi, 08/09/2009 13:04
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This is one of the reasons why I left England. The spineless way you soft idiots allow people to kick you and all you do is, wait you do not do anything. You are so gutless now in England. I do not mean the normal public just the.........Whats the point the roses are rather grand today don't you think? Rather!
- Colin Stevens, USA, 08/09/2009 13:03
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Welcome to the Brown/Blair NuLabour Britain where everything is free if you don't want to work, hate the English, and vote Labour. Thanks Mr Brown. Now, we need to know what the next government is planning to do about these useless immigrants and the hated Human rights act before we actually go to the polls!
- J Keating, romsey england, 08/09/2009 12:47
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British law states that a person suspected of any crime
remains free until proof is provided of his/her guilt.
Just about every terror organization has an office in the U.K.until they do something against the law,they remain free.
This is British democracy whether you like it or not,I for one as far as terror suspects are concerned,they should be thrown in prison until they prove their innocence.(ITALIAN LAW).You are guilty until you prove your innocence.
- David Nigel Braham, Milan Italy, 08/09/2009 12:41
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But its his 'Human Right' to preach hatred and organise mass murder against those who doesnt believe/share/care about his views. Cherie Blair and the rest of the left wingers have made sure of that.
Australia would have got it right, deport this scum and the rest of his sponging family.
- Fed Up With My Country, London, 08/09/2009 12:27
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The law needs to be changed but it never will be.
Anyone remember Spains Gonzalez & his GAL? Now there's a man who knew how to saught out troublemakers
- Yes, madrid, spain, 08/09/2009 12:26
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@ James Smythe, London
That is in no way a like for like comparison. Don't muddy the issue.
The pandering politics of the Liberal-Lefties in our society today make the Islamic threat very much more dangerous. You now have a government without the political will to do anything about it. mainly because they signed up wholesale to the EU 'uman Rights legislation.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 08/09/2009 12:16
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Only in gutless PC Britain would this man freely exist.
We are still not taking the Islamist threat seriously.
On BBC PM programme yesterday the interviewer asked is it worth spending £30,000,000 on stopping the recent bomb plot ?
When I picked myself up I shouted at the radio. "It is worth 2 Jonathan Rosses to stop what the police described as Murder on an Unimaginable Scale "
- British Not Racist, Bracknell England, 08/09/2009 12:04
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We have enough on our hands growing our own terrorists.
- Rosemary Mitchell, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 08/09/2009 11:59
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Deport him & his family immediately. I can't believe we allow this type of person to walk freely in the UK and support him & his family by paying him benefits. Can't be right. Get him out or get him digging up roads or as a dustbin man. He is in the UK to brain wash and radicalise the weak and we are sponsoring him with benefits.
- Frank, Copenhagen, DK, 08/09/2009 11:47
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What was Jack Straw saying about Ronnie Biggs?
One would think robbers, are second class citizens in the UK today.
Who do you prefer; Mohammed al Ghabra, or Ronnie Biggs?
- Mickinlondon, london, 08/09/2009 11:43
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How many of these[alleged]terrorists or their acolytes have been found to be on benefits?
If ever there was a country that made a rod for its own back, it's us. We are a laughing stock and those who laugh loudest are Muslim fundamentalists who cannot believe their luck to be able to spout their bigoted bile and get paid for doing so. It's about time we rooted these people out but part and parcel of that is vital amendments to some of the more stupid provisions of the Human Rights Act 1989 or judicial precedent arising out of it.
- Captain Black Of The Mysterons, London, England, 08/09/2009 11:35
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The weird thing is that the regime kicked his ass out of Syria ages ago, and he is banned from entering Syrian land but you still host him and treat him good!!
One thing I only understand this person has never been good to his homeland, how can he be good to another home who he consider is full of infidels!!!
- Dan Khryt, Syria, 08/09/2009 11:35
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Nice. Hopefully we're not paying all his council tax, benefits and housing too otherwise Mr Brown has even more questions to answer...
- Jennie, london, 08/09/2009 11:34
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Oh. come on!
Scotland Yard, the UN, the US, Interpol and the UK Treasury all "claim" that he has some unspecified involvement with 'terrorists' but nobody has any evidence of these assertions?
How gullible do the authorities think that the British public are? An unemployed man on benefits under constant surveillance for years is supposed to have done 'something'?
After the WMD fiasco, they will have to come up with something better than this to justify the amount of taxpayers money spent on such groups!
- Manny Goldstein, London, England, 08/09/2009 11:27
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AB of London asked; why was a Syrian national who doesn't work and is believed to be a terrorist given British citizenship
Isnt it obvious? Its because that is Labour's ket vote right there! They even admitted in east London, the key to winning more votes was to 'change the demographics of the area'
Think about these type of incidents come voting day 2010
- Lb, London, 08/09/2009 11:21
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Ed Hussein on Radio 4 this morning, maintained that the US does not have the problem of radicalised Muslims who pose a threat to their fellow citizens that we have. That their Muslim population is more integrated than here. It seems a simplistic view of a very complex situation.
Pakistanis coming to the UK have tended to come from rural areas. Many unskilled, with some older people and young wives never learning English. This ensures that Pakistani remains the first language at home. America has tended to accept skilled workers long before us. They have long conducted the citizens test which includes a grasp of language and their nationalism is much more rigorous than ours. Even starting school days with the flag and oath of allegiance.
Hussein pointed out the strictly Muslim school establishments in Northern England (some funded by the hardline deobandi sects), which go on to produce future Imams for British mosques which keep those Muslims segregated from the rest of us. The US wld be less accommodating. Muslim women, married and unmarried are not encouraged in traditional homes here to go out to work, or even take on further education. The US does not have to contend with the large numbers of illegal Pakistanis. The percentage of UK Pakistanis to other Britains dwarfs the US percentage. The US doesn't have the large cluster living settlements that we have here. Willingness to integrate and integrated education are key factors. UK and US Pakistanis - very different.
- James, London, 08/09/2009 11:00
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Surely paying this guy dole is the same a state sponsored terrorism.
Imagine if another country, say Libya, was paying an out of work Syrian with dubious connections a renetion fee!!
- Hansel, London, 08/09/2009 10:53
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Sean O'Leary. There was a time when we WASPs in the UK would give out about Irish Catholic immigrants like your own predecessors in the same way you are now doing about other immigrants. I therefore presume the irony of your rant is not lost on you?
- James Smythe, London, 08/09/2009 10:37
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Just about sums up the Country we live in This bloke is taking all he can get from us.Yet we can do nothing about it. Funny how we can deport someone to America because he hacks into a computor but cannot do anything with this bloke.
- David Smith, Croydon, 08/09/2009 10:29
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I cannot believe what I read about this ghastly person and him being allowed to roam around our streets. What as our country become. Whats he doing on the dole why hasnt he a job Britain as gone mad. We wont win any wars with guys like him able to swan around as he likes.He should be sent back to the country he loves so much why does he toture himself by staying here a country he hates.
I hope every move he ,every phone call he makes is checked so he as no place to hide
- Terence Mccarthy, South Africa, 08/09/2009 10:19
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This person needs to be kept under close scrutiny and if there is anything going on with him, he should have the full force of the law brought down on him.
- W Joseph, British Expat, 08/09/2009 10:14
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This person needs to be kept under close scrutiny and if there is anything going on with him, he should have the full force of the law brought down on him.
- W Joseph, British Expat, 08/09/2009 10:14
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He is on benefits, now there is a surprise, he is a big lump, get him digging the roads or put him on a building site labouring, then we can see if he really is tough, then he will be able to support himself.Once again the idiotic pc benefits system we have worked so hard to put in place in the UK to support the British,is directly linked to our countries undermination ( sorry not a good word like for example fundamentalisation, also not good )stop all benefits for non UK born and see these rats leave the ship of Brittania
- Sean O'Leary, Walthamstow London, 08/09/2009 10:10
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Question to NuLiebour: why was a Syrian national who doesn't work and is believed to be a terrorist given British citizenship? Justify to your own home-grown citizens why we should pay taxes to keep this layabout and his family? Question to David Cameron: what are you going to do about people like this?
- Ab, London, 08/09/2009 10:07
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how do the people who have responsibility for keeping our streets free of such filth sleep at night ? an unemployed syrian-born extremist. Is it not beyond the wit of the powers that be to revoke his passport and deport him ?
- Squiz, Islington, 08/09/2009 10:05
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".. living freely in London, .."
Of course he is.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 08/09/2009 09:57
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