AN ALLEGED Islamist terrorist accused of planning attacks on targets in Britain was involved in a plot to buy a dirty bomb from the Russian mafia, the Old Bailey was told yesterday. Salahuddin Amin was said to have been entrusted by senior figures in a terror cell in Pakistan to act as a go-between in their planned purchase of the radioactive device.
He is standing trial alongside six alleged accomplices for conspiring to detonate explosives at key sites in Britain, causing maximum damage and fatalities. Among the intended targets were the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, the National Grid, synagogues and a nightclub in Central London, the court was told during the second day of the trial. However, the plotters did not realise that as they pondered which of many potential targets to strike, their movements were being monitored by police, David Waters, QC, for the prosecution, said. Some of their cars and homes had been bugged. One defendant, Jawad Akbar, allegedly said in a recording: The biggest nightclub in Central London. No one can put their hands up and say they are innocent those slags dancing around.
Mr Amin was said in 2001 to have moved to Pakistan where he attended explosives and weapons training camps with five of the other men and supplied equipment for jihad (holy war). Mr Waters told the jury: An indication to the trust imposed in Amin and his position in the Pakistani end of the organisation is gained from the passing of information to him in relation to a radioisotope bomb.
Referring to alleged senior terrorists, Mr Waters said that Mr Amin was asked by Pakistan-based militants to contact a man named Abu Annis. Through Annis contact had been made via the internet with Russian mafia based in Belgium.
Mr Waters said that at least two of the defendants intended to leave Britain for Pakistan in the days before the intended attack on a UK target.
He said that Waheed Mahmood worked for Transco National Grid at its Brighton depot. Computer discs giving detailed plans of Britains electricity and gas systems, including pipelines, cables and sub- stations, had been found at another defendants house. Anyone armed with such information would have no difficulty identifying, in the context of this case, a potential target, Mr Waters said.
The men had bought 600kg (1,323lb) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, supposedly for an allotment, even though that amount would cover five football pitches; had hired a lorry and had taken it to a storage depot in West London. They had refused to answer questions from the curious manager about what they would do with it, and had chosen the password pink in reference to a character in the film Reservoir Dogs. Mr Waters said that staff at the depot eventually became suspicious and contacted police, who exchanged the fertiliser for an inert substance without alerting the men. An undercover officer started working as a receptionist at the depot. The defendants were said to have acquired other bomb ingredients: aluminium powder had been discovered in a biscuit tin behind a shed at the home of Omar Khyam and his brother, Shujah Mahmood.
Providing detonators had been the responsibility of Momin Khawaja, a computer expert from Canada, who faces trial in that country. He and Mr Khyam were said to have been in regular e-mail contact about how best to bring detonators from Canada to Britain. In one e-mail Mr Khawaja had said: Weve got to find a way to get it [a device] into the UK. Maybe I could courier it over? He had also suggested sending it via the company that employed him at that time.
Mr Waters said that the internet played a vital role in the alleged plot: some of the defendants had purchased outdoor clothing and camping equipment online in preparation for trips to training camps in Pakistan. Wary of surveillance, they allegedly communicated by e-mail but without sending messages: by saving drafts and logging on using identical usernames and passwords. The men were said to have bought pay-as-you-go mobile phones and regularly disposed of them and their laptops in an attempt to evade MI5. Police had said that they appeared surveillance sensitive, being extremely aware of vehicles and pedestrians around them.
Nevertheless, Mr Waters said, security officers successfully bugged their homes and cars. In one conversation the men had been heard discussing a remote-controlled detonator that had a dipswitch to encrypt the signal, a booster chip to prevent it from being blocked and antennae that they hoped would increase its range to two kilometres. The jury was told that a recording was also made of Akbar talking to his wife in which he allegedly said: They are going to train me up and probably send me back here, act like completely stupid, and do a big mission. When we kill the Kuf (unbelievers) this is because we know Allah hates the Kufs.
In another recording Waheed Mahmood allegedly mentions a potential attack on Bluewater shopping centre in Kent: A little explosion at Bluewater tomorrow if you want. I dont know how big it would be, we havent tested it, but we could tomorrow do one tomorrow.
Mr Amin, 31, of Luton; Mr Khyam, 24, Shujah Mahmood, 18, Waheed Mahmood, 34, Jawad Akbar, 22, all of Crawley, West Sussex; Anthony Garcia, 27, of Ilford, East London; and Nabeel Hussain, 20, from Horley, Surrey, all deny conspiring to cause an explosion likely to endanger life between October 2003 and March 2004. Mr Khyam, Mr Garcia and Mr Hussain also deny possessing 600kg of fertiliser for the purposes of terrorism. Mr Khyam and Shujah Mahmood deny possessing aluminium powder, also for the purposes of terrorism.
All except Mr Amin were arrested in March 2004 and declined to answer questions. They eventually denied their guilt in short prepared statements, issued to police through their solicitors. Mr Amin was arrested in February 2005 on return from Pakistan. The prosecution said that he had become increasingly radicalised during a visit to the country in 1999, and had come under the influence of an extremist in Luton who had died fighting in Afghanistan.
When he returned to Britain he was said to have taken a year out from his university course to work as a taxi driver so that he could afford daily donations to the Kashmir cause. In 2001 he returned to Pakistan for his sisters wedding, Mr Waters said, and took the opportunity to check out a training camp but was unimpressed by the standard. He had been in Pakistan during the September 11 terrorist attacks and later told police that he regretted the civilian deaths but felt good and happy that there was such a big financial loss. Mr Amin had eventually sold his house in Luton, returned to Pakistan for terrorism training and had begun using the name Khalid.
However, Mr Waters said, his role in providing money and equipment to groups fighting in Afghanistan, such as al-Qaeda and the Mujahidin, came through a British link and was engineered by a man with whom Mr Amin had worshipped at a mosque in Luton. Mr Amin had also allegedly met the Crawley defendants when they had decided to visit a mosque in Luton. Mr Khyam had later gone to Pakistan to join him at a training camp. Mr Waters said: The training course included the fact that there were alternative substances to ammonium nitrate. The instruction was not restricted to explosives as a means of causing death or damage. As you will hear they were instructed in some detail as to how ricin was prepared. Khyam and Amin took notes of the training they were given.
When back in Britain, Mr Khyam was said to have acquired the 600kg of fertiliser and contacted Mr Amin, who had remained in Pakistan, to ask what he should mix it with to make explosives and in what ratio. Mr Amin had gone to his superior, obtained the formula, e-mailed it to Mr Khyam and destroyed his notes. He had been detained by the Pakistani authorities for ten months from April 2004 until his return to Britain, Mr Waters said. While in custody abroad, he had been interviewed by British and American security services.
Mr Waters told the jury: He claimed he was very badly treated by the Pakistani authorities and received threats . . . He said he had even admitted things he had not done. . . .When you hear the [police] interviews you may come to a conclusion that there came a time when Amin regretted revealing quite as much as he had . . . Mr Waters continued: The charge or allegation which all defendants face is conspiracy to cause an explosion or explosions. Provided there was such an agreement, any defendant who was party to it will be guilty. The prosecution does not have to prove a specific explosion was agreed upon.
He added that if the police had waited until the very last minute before arresting the defendants, this would inevitably involve risks to the public which would be unacceptable. The trial continues.
THE ACCUSED
Omar Khyam, 24, from Crawley, formerly lived in Slough. Also known as Ausman. Said by the prosecution to be very much at the centre of operations
Anthony Garcia, 27, from Ilford, East London. Also known as Rahman Adam, Abdul Rahman, John Lewis or Rizvan. Taught weapons training in Pakistan
Nabeel Hussain, 20, from Horley, Surrey. Lived in Uxbridge while a student at Brunel University. The only defendant not to attend training camps in Pakistan and the only one given bail
Jawad Akbar, 22, from Crawley. Also lived in Uxbridge for a time. Also known as Hamza
Waheed Mahmood, 34, from Crawley. Worked for National Grid Transco, which the prosecution said would be a significant point. Also known as Abdul, Esmail or Javed
Shujah Mahmood, 18, Omar Khyams younger brother. Also from Crawley. Prosecution alleges that he arrived in Pakistan with digital scales for weighing ratios of ammonium nitrate to aluminium powder
Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton. Spent a considerable period in Pakistan. Also known as Khalid
ITEMS ALLEGEDLY FOUND AT DEFENDANTS' HOMES
# Aluminium powder (key ingredient in making explosive device) in a biscuit tin behind a shed
# Long list of synagogues
# 12 CD-Roms on National Grid giving mains data, maps, areas of interest and location of hazardous plant
# Letter from Anthony Garcia in which he seemingly says goodbye to his brother and asks him not to tell anyone what he is about to do
# Outdoor survival clothing and camping equipment
# Book called Understanding Solid State Electronics
# Document called What to do if contacted by MI5 or Special Branch
# Computer video files with extract described as al-Qaeda weapons manual
# Money transfer documents
# Quotation for storage hire
# Pay-and-go mobile phone simcard box
# Phone number of fertiliser suppliers
# At home of Momin Khawaja (alleged accomplice awaiting trial in Canada) documents relating to jihad and home-made transmitter and receiver boards |
A British terrorist cell with alleged links to Al-Qaeda discussed bombing revellers at a large central London nightclub as well as targeting several synagogues in London and one in Manchester, a prosecutor said Wednesday. One of the defendants, Salahuddin Amin, even discussed trying to buy a radio-isotope "dirty bomb" from the Russian mafia, but nothing appeared to have come from his enquiries, prosecutor David Waters told a London jury.
Seven men have gone on trial accused of planning a campaign of terror in Britain. Three had more than half a ton of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, which can be used to make bombs, the Old Bailey was told. The seven, all British citizens, deny the allegations.