'Men' Accused of suicide bomb plot

[Teddy Bear]

As soon as I saw the headline on the BBC main items "Men accused of suicide bomb plan", I just knew there would be no mention of the particular religion and mindset that these 8 'men' belong to. Though seeing their picture and names there could be no doubt. Somehow ISLAMIC TERRORISTS is just not part of the BBC lexicon, which, since these 'MEN' threaten our very shores, is especially insidious.

You can be sure the BBC would claim it's not relevant, but if these 'men' were 8 Irish terrorists there would certainly be reference and background to it.

Men accused of suicide bomb plan

All eight men deny conspiring to murder others
A group of men charged over an alleged plot to blow up passenger planes wanted to create deaths on an almost unprecedented scale, a court has heard.

Prosecutor Peter Wright said the victims of the suicide attacks would be an "unwitting civilian population".

Homemade devices were to be smuggled on to the aircraft and detonated mid-flight, the court in London heard.

The eight men all deny conspiring to murder others and endangering aircraft bound for the US and Canada in 2006.

The trial at Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London is expected to last eight months.

The defendants are Abdul Ahmed Ali, aka Ahmed Ali Khan, 27, of Walthamstow, Assad Sarwar, 24, of High Wycombe, Tanvir Hussain, 27, of no fixed address, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking.


EIGHT ACCUSED MEN
TOP ROW OF PICTURE (L-R):
Abdul Ahmed Ali, 27
Assad Sarwar, 24
Tanvir Hussain, 27
Mohammed Gulzar, 26
BOTTOM ROW (L-R):

Ibrahim Savant, 27
Arafat Waheed Khan, 26
Waheed Zaman, 23
Umar Islam, 29


Also charged, are Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Walthamstow, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Walthamstow, Waheed Zaman, 23, of Walthamstow and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young, 29, of High Wycombe.

After their arrests in August 2006, airport security was massively tightened in the UK, causing long delays at major airports.

On Wednesday, trial judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith oversaw the swearing-in of the jury.

Jurors were told they may not be able to serve if they have links to the police, security services or Heathrow airport, or if they had been a victim of a terrorist incident.

[Teddy Bear]

Be under no illusion, the story as written by the BBC is devoid of context, and is so watered down as to be almost a farce. Compare the above article to the one appearing in the Telegraph.

'Airline terror plotters planned bigger 9/11'
By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter, and Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 6:38am BST 04/04/2008

A gang of British Muslims plotted to cause carnage "on an almost unprecedented scale" by detonating up to 18 suicide bombs on transatlantic passenger flights, a court has heard.

In what would have been the worst terrorist atrocity since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, the eight defendants planned to kill hundreds and possibly thousands of passengers "all in the name of Islam", it is alleged.

The plotters were allegedly "almost ready" to carry out their plans to detonate liquid explosives on board at least seven flights from Heathrow to the US and Canada.

Their plans were allegedly so advanced that they had drawn up details of specific flights to be targeted and bought the components needed to make hydrogen peroxide bombs disguised as soft drinks such as Lucozade and Oasis.

But they were arrested before they were able to make "a violent and deadly statement of intent that would have truly global impact", a jury was told.

The arrests in August 2006 led to a significant tightening of security at all UK airports, which still continues through restrictions on liquids carried in hand luggage.

On the first day of what is likely to become Britain's biggest terrorist trial, the prosecutor, Peter Wright QC, told Woolwich Crown Court in east London that the plotters were "indifferent" to the fate of their innocent victims.

He said: "Some of the men in the dock are those actively prepared to sacrifice their own life, to board the nominated aircraft whilst carrying their deadly cargo and detonate it in flight.

"They are men with the cold-eyed certainty of the fanatic, prepared to board an aircraft with the ingredients to construct and detonate a device to bring about the loss not only of their own life but all those around them."

If successful, he said, the "deadly plan" would have resulted in "a civilian death toll on an almost unprecedented scale" as the aircraft "plummeted to earth over a populated area".

In the dock are Abdul Ahmed Ali, also known as Ahmed Ali Khan, 27, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, and Waheed Zaman, 23, all from Walthamstow, east London; Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Leyton, east London, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking; and Assad Sarwar, 27, and Umar Islam, also known as Brian Young, 29, both of High Wycombe, Bucks.

All eight deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an act of violence likely to endanger an aircraft, between January 1 and August 11, 2006.

Mr Wright said Mr Ali and Mr Sarwar met near Walthamstow town hall on the evening of Aug 9, 2006 to discuss their plan "to inflict many casualties on an unwitting civilian population" by blowing up passenger jets.

By then the two men were among a group that had been under surveillance for several months, and police feared that they were about to put their alleged plot into action. Following raids that night on addresses in High Wycombe and in east London, police were able to "piece together the nature of the plot these men were engaged in… and just how far they had got in making their preparations in order to achieve their goal".

Mr Wright said: "You may conclude that they were almost ready to put their plot into practice. By the time of the arrests the disaster they contemplated was not far off."

"They intended to cause a series of explosions on board a selected number of transatlantic aircraft, by the detonation in flight of home-made bombs, commonly referred to as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

"The component parts of the devices would be designed to resemble soft drinks bottles and their liquid contents; batteries and other innocuous items of hand luggage.

"Once assembled, these items would have the capability of being detonated, we say, with devastating consequences."

The alleged bombers had drawn up plans to attack seven Boeing 777, 767 and 763 aircraft, each carrying between 241 and 285 passengers and crew, operated by American Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada, said Mr Wright.

All seven of the aircraft would take off from Heathrow's Terminal 3 in a 2hr 35min period between 14.15 and 16.50 on any given day.

The intended destinations included Chicago, Montreal, New York, Washington, Toronto, and San Francisco, but the aircraft would have been blown up "over sea and land" before reaching those airports, it is alleged.

Mr Wright said: "Once they began, the authorities would have been unable to prevent a similar fate (on the other aircraft) because they were already in mid air and carrying the deadly cargo."

A "blueprint" of the intended attacks, with flight times, aircraft types, flight numbers and Heathrow security arrangements, was allegedly found on a USB memory stick said to have been found in Ali's pocket when he was arrested on August 9, 2006.

But conversations between the men, who had been under surveillance before their arrests, allegedly suggested they may have recruited as many as 18 suicide bombers, who would have set off on flights from several Heathrow terminals at once.

Mr Wright said: "These men were, we say, indifferent to the carnage that was likely to ensue if their plans were successful.

"To them, the identity of their victims was a complete irrelevance."

"If each of these aircraft were blown up the potential for loss of life would be considerable and there would be little, if any, chance of saving them from the impending disaster, because once the explosions began the authorities would be unable to prevent similar disasters on any of the flights because they would already be in flight and carrying their deadly cargo.

"Over sea and land, populated and unpopulated areas, a co-ordinated attack by on-board detonation would be capable of producing quite catastrophic consequences for passengers, crew and indeed anyone who happened to be in the path of a stricken or disintegrating aircraft as it plummeted to earth over a populated part of northern Europe or North America."

Although flights from August 2006 to August 2007 had been researched, the alleged plotters appeared to have concentrated on dates between the start of August and the end of October 2006.

The conspirators had selected seven flights to six destinations in the United States and Canada for their murderous plot, the court heard.

All departed daily from Heathrow terminal three in the space of two hours and 35 minutes. The plotters planned to select a date between August and October 2006 to carry out their bombing mission, it was alleged.

The aircraft - Boeing 777s, 767s and 763s - had a capacity of between 241 and 285 passengers and crew.

The seven flights were:

14.15 United Airlines flight 931 to San Francisco
15.00 Air Canada flight 849 to Toronto
15.15 Air Canada flight 865 to Montreal
15.40 United Airlines flight 959 to Chicago
16.20 United Airlines flight 935 to Washington
16.35 American Airlines flight 131 to New York
16.50 American Airlines flight 91 to Chicago

The prosecution said the flights were "particularly vulnerable to a co-ordinated attack while in flight" and, once the attacks started, there was little that the authorities could have done because the jets were already in mid-air and "carrying the deadly cargo".

The court heard that the plotters had not confined themselves to those flights and had talked of using 18 suicide bombers. Other destinations examined included Boston, Denver and Miami.