TERROR TRIAL: Accused 'aimed to cause death on unprecedented scale' (From This Is Local London)

TERROR TRIAL: Accused 'aimed to cause death on unprecedented scale'

1:45pm Tuesday 17th February 2009

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A GROUP accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners wanted to cause mass murder in the name of Islam, a court heard.

The jury at Woolwich Crown Court were told that eight men, including four from Waltham Forest, planned “heavy casualties upon an unwitting civilian population”.

Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, said: “To them, the identities of their victims had no relevance, be it their race, colour, religion or creed.

"What they intended to bring about together and with others was a violent act, which would have had global impact."

The court heard that Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28 of Prospect Hill, Walthamstow, and Assad Sarwar, of High Wycombe, were the ringleaders in the plot to smuggle improvised explosive devices disguised as soft drinks on to passenger jets bound for north America.

They were both arrested days before the alleged attacks in the car park of Waltham Forest town hall on August 9, 2006.

Their cars and their persons were searched and in in Ali's pocket a memory computer stick was found containing detailed information of timetables and flights between terminal three at London Heathrow and nine destinations in north america, jurors heard.

There was information on non-stop flights via Air Canada, American Airlines and United Airlines, the court heard.

Mr Knight QC said that seven flights by these three carriers were highlighted leaving London Heathrow at the same day carrying up to 285 people on each.

He said that if each of these aircraft were successful blown up it would have "catastrophic consequences."

The court heard that police investigation and surveillance on the men in the run up to their arrests led officers to believe that it was not simply a UK operation, but that the plan had come directly from Pakistan and was on a much wider scale.

Also accused are Arafat Waheed khan, 27, of Farnan Avenue, Walthamstow, Waheed Zaman, 24, of Queens Road, Walthamstow, and Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Nottingham Road, Leyton.

Ibrahim Savant, 28, of Stoke Newington, Umar Islam, also known as Brian Young, 30, of Plaistow, and Donald Stewart-Whyte, 22, of High Wycombe. The trial is expected to last ten months.

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