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Saajid Badat

Saajid Badat

al-Qaeda

Britain

Arrested

20050811

Home Front: WoT

Abu Hamza lost hands in Pakistan army experiment

2014-05-09

[DAWN] British hate preacher Abu Hamza told his US terror trial Thursday that his hands were blown off during a Pakistain army explosives experiment in Lahore in 1993. The device was prepared by an Arab with the same name as an expert alleged to have taught al Qaeda recruits in Afghanistan in 2000-01. Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, 56, better known in Britannia as Abu Hamza al-Masri has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." in New York to 11 kidnapping and terror counts that pre-date 9/11. He is charged over the 1998 kidnapping in Yemen of 16 Westerners, conspiracy to set up a jihad training camp in Oregon in 1999, of providing material support to al Qaeda, of assisting the Taliban and of sending recruits for terror training in Afghanistan. Work in Pakistain Taking the stand in his defense for a second day, he told the court he moved with his family to Pakistain in 1992 to do reconstruction work in war-torn Afghanistan. After Saudi funders pulled the plug on multi-million-dollar projects, he said he helped Arab veterans of the 1980s Afghan jihad against the Soviet Union find jobs with the Pakistain army. Those with army tactics and explosives experience were wanted "to help with the army in other areas of conflict," Abu Hamza testified. In 1993 he said he was designing a steel plate with a Pak engineer as part of a wider, unidentified project for which "others were designing explosives." He said he introduced the army to "some Arabs," including an Egyptian married to a Pak woman. This Arab had the same name, Abu Khabab, as the man whom British al Qaeda recruit Saajid Badat said taught explosives at a jihad training camp in Afghanistan in 1999-2001. The work took place in army issued accommodations in the city of Lahore, close to the Indian border, he said. "I was very surprised," Abu Hamza said, describing how explosives were tested on empty land between two villas outside on the street. "I was surprised why the neighbors were not complaining or calling the police. They were all army families," he said. Pakistain army asked him to keep quiet The Arab man was lax with "health and safety," he said, and prepared a small container of explosives which "Commander Ilyas" put in a detonator before leaving. Abu Hamza said he picked up the device, which was getting hot, but couldn't throw it in the bathroom as previously advised because someone was at the sink. He said he "felt the kaboom" and saw blood before falling into a coma. He was taken to a military hospital in Lahore, where he spent a month. Abu Hamza later flew to London to be fitted with a prosthetic before returning to Pakistain to collect his children six months later in early 1994, he told the court. He said the army offered not to round up any more Arab former mujahideen in exchange for his silence. "The army said look we're not going to make any more arrests, just don't embarrass us about what happened," the preacher said. He described his hospital treatment in Pakistain as "the very best" and that doctors in England "were very impressed about how my stumps were done and healed." Previous reports said that he lost his arms in Afghanistan, but Abu Hamza said "all sorts of stories" had circulated about the reason for his injuries. The preacher got a laugh from the court when he said one of the stories had been that his hands were cut off in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... when he was caught stealing. He later became emotional when asked about the 1995 massacre of Bosnian Moslems in Srebrenica, forcing Judge Katherine Forrest to call a seven-minute break. He also testified to changing his name legally on his British passport in order to travel to Bosnia in the mid-1990s to provide cars and money to Moslem fighters. Abu Hamza made another joke, saying it was as easy as paying 25 pounds ($42 in today's money) and giving your name as John Travolta, to further laughs. He faces life in prison in a maximum security US prison if convicted by jury at the New York court.

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Southeast Asia

11 arrested terrorists with links to Al Qaeda involved in the disappearance of MH370?

2014-05-05

A few new facts and a welter of speculation. Enjoy! [DailyMail] o Suspects were arrested in the capital Kuala Lumpur and the state of Kedah o Said to members of violent new terror group said to be planning attacks o Interrogations came after demands from agencies including FBI and MI6 o Manifest revealed presence of consignment but did not reveal its contents o Airline has admitted 200kg of lithium batteries was among the items o It refused to say what else, citing 'legal reason' related to 'ongoing' probe A group of 11 gunnies with links to Al Qaeda were yesterday being interrogated on whether they are behind the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The suspects were arrested in the capital Kuala Lumpur and in the state of Kedah last week and are members of a violent new terror group said to be planning kabooms in Moslem countries. The interrogations come after international Sherlocks, including the FBI and MI6, asked for the myrmidons, whose ages range from 22 to 55 and include students, odd-job workers, a young widow and business professionals, to be questioned intensively about Flight MH370. Nearly two months after the Beijing-bound plane vanished soon after take-off from Kuala Lumpur, no trace has been found despite a huge sea search costing hundreds of millions of pounds. It is thought to have crashed into the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board. An officer with the Counter Terrorism Division of Malaysian Special Branch said yesterday the arrests had heightened suspicion that the flight's disappearance may have been an act of terrorism. In interviews conducted so far, some suspects have admitted planning 'sustained terror campaigns' in Malaysia but denied being involved in the disappearance of the airliner, he added. During the trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now beyond all cares and woe... 's son-in-law, Saajid Badat, a British-born Moslem from Gloucester, said he had been instructed at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan to give a shoe bomb to the Malaysians. He said: 'I gave one of my shoes to the Malaysians. I think it was to access the cockpit.' Badat, who spoke via video link and is in hiding in the UK, told the New York court the Malaysian plot was being criminal masterminded by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the principal architect of 9/11. A mystery surrounding the cargo being carried by the missing Malaysian Airlines plane emerged on Friday when it was discovered that it had been loaded with items not specified on the manifest. The aircraft was carrying 4.566 tonnes of mangosteens - an exotic fruit - and a shipment of lithium batteries, which were part of a separate consignment. The batteries weighed 200kg, but that separate consignment totalled 2.453 tonnes. So what was being carried to make up the 2.253 tonnes in that separate shipment? The mystery was sparked by a front man for the company that shipped the batteries telling a Malaysian newspaper that he would not reveal what the remaining 2.253 tonnes of cargo were. 'I cannot reveal more because of the ongoing investigations,' the front man told The Star newspaper. 'We have been told by our legal advisers not to talk about it.' The front man said he could not even name the company which manufactured the batteries, insisting that the matter was confidential. Questioned about the fact that a mystery cargo was not stated in the manifest, Malaysian Airlines told the paper that the rest of the consignment was 'radio accessories and chargers.' A statement from the airline said that the freight not specified had been 'declared as radio accessories', despite there being no reference to this in the manifest released publicly last Thursday. What the manifest does say is that NNR Global shipped 133 pieces of one item weighing 1.99 tonnes and 67 pieces of another item weighing 463kg for a total 'consolidated weight' of 2.453 tonnes. Just how many lithium batteries had been loaded, or their weight, are not specified in the manifest, although Malaysian Airlines boss Ahmad Yahya told a media conference in Kuala Lumpur on March 24 that the batteries weighed a total of 200kg. What the manifest does say, in respect of the lithium batteries, is that 'the package must be handled with care and that a flammability hazard exists if the package is damaged. 'Special procedures must be followed in the event the package is damaged, to include inspection and repacking if necessary.' There has been earlier speculation that a fire involving the batteries might have been the cause of the aircraft's fate. According to The Star, shippers NNR Global are located at an air freight forwarding warehouse located less than 100 yards from the Penang International Airport. 'The complex is guarded by the police and only those with passes are allowed entry,' the newspaper said, following its investigation into the unspecified cargo. A consolidated shipment combines several individual consignments to make up a full container load. At the port of destination, the consolidated shipment is separated back into individual consignments for delivery to their respective consignees. The lithium batteries and the other mystery items that are said to be radio parts were addressed to NNR Global Logistics in Beijing, but a company named JHJ International Transportation Co.Ltd of Beijing was to collect the cargo on its behalf. Among the conspiracy theories that have already emerged following the Boeing 777's disappearance on March 8, is that its fate was linked to 20 of the 239 people on board - they were employees of a semi-conductor manufacturing firm which develops components for hi-tech weapons systems and aircraft navigation. They were employees of Freescale Semiconductor, a Texas technology firm, working in several manufacturing sites in Kuala Lumpur and Tianjin, China, a fact confirmed by a spokeswoman for the company. The citizens news site Beforeitsnews, said earlier that it was conceivable that MH370 was 'hiding' with its high-tech electronic warfare weaponry. 'In fact, this type of technology is precisely the expertise of Freescale, that has 20 employees on board the missing flight,' said the website. However, a clean conscience makes a soft pillow... until a detailed description of the 'radio parts' that have not been itemised in the MH370 manifest has been made available, the conspiracy theories are likely to be given an added thrust.

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Southeast Asia

Convicted terrorist sez Malasian group plotted airliner hijacking in 2001.

2014-03-13

A terror group from Malaysia plotted in the weeks after 9/11 to attack an airplane using explosives hidden in their shoes, according to a former terrorist who claimed to have supplied the bomb. Saajid Badat, a British national and terrorist-turned-government witness, told a New York court Tuesday that he met the group of Malaysians, which included a pilot, in late 2001 and claimed they planned to blow open a plane’s cockpit door in order to carry out a 9/11-style hijacking. Badat said he had two shoe bombs for his own terror plot before he gave one to the Malaysians for their “operation.” Badat wore the other as he flew from Karachi, Pakistan to Holland and from there to England in December 2001. He did not detonate the device on those flights, he said, because he wanted to save it for an attack on an American airline – an operation he was planning with now-convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid. Once in the U.K., however, Badat said he backed out of his operation after speaking with his parents, leaving Reid to go it alone. Reid was arrested after he failed to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes while aboard American Airlines Flight 63 on Dec. 22, 2001. Badat was arrested in England in 2005 and pleaded guilty to a count of “conspiracy with others to destroy a passenger airliner whilst in flight by igniting a high-explosive device,” according to British authorities. For whatever reason, it appears the Malaysia plot never went ahead. Badat did not name the group in question in his testimony and the National Counterterrorism Center does not list any major terrorist groups being based in Malaysia. Department of Justice prosecutors declined to elaborate on Badat’s testimony and the CIA declined to comment. A senior intelligence official would only say American intelligence was “aware of the Malaysia 2001 plot.” In 2006, then-President George W. Bush said that in October 2001, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the so-called mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, had "set in motion" another plan to hijack planes, this time using terrorist recruits from Southeast Asia. Bush said the operation was foiled when one of the plotters was arrested in Asia. At the time, however, several counter-terrorism officials said the plot was not "definitive" and never got past the "thought" stage. James Keith, former U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, told ABC News Tuesday that Malaysia is not known as a harbor for terrorists and that country’s biggest threat when it comes to extremism comes in the form of spillover from its neighbors. For instance, Indonesia, to Malaysia’s south, is home to Jemaah Islamiya, the terrorist network blamed for a string of attacks in the 2000s including the 2002 Bali bombings, which claimed 202 lives. In recent years that organization has been “overshadowed” by splinter groups, according to the NCTC’s profile of the group.

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Terror Networks

British convict says he met bin Laden '20 to 50 times'

2014-03-11

[DAWN] A British terror convict has told a New York trial he met the late Osama bin Laden ... who is now among the dear departed, though not among the dearest... up to 50 times and was recruited by Al Qaeda to blow up a passenger jet. Saajid Badat was sentenced in 2005 to 13 years in jail as a co-conspirator in the notorious shoe bombing plot in December 2001, a time of worldwide concern over air travel after the September 11 attacks in the United States. The 34-year-old has been dubbed a "supergrass," slang for informant, by the British media for agreeing to testify against a slew of former associates. He was released early from prison in Britannia, where authorities have given him accommodation and financial help, and he gave evidence from some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location on Monday because he faces arrest in America. Badat is the second US government witness to appear at the trial of Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of bin Laden and former Al Qaeda front man, who is on trial in Manhattan for conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to provide support and providing material support to terrorists. The prosecution showed the jury two videos of the defendant in October 2001 threatening Americans with a "storm of airplanes," which they say implicates him in the shoe bomb plot. "The storm shall not lessen especially the storm of the airplanes," Abu Ghaith shouted in one of the propaganda clips. But the defence says there is no evidence tying Abu Ghaith, 48, to the conspiracy and brands Badat, who looked worried and unhappy throughout more than two hours of testimony, the real terrorist. Asked how many times he met bin Laden in Afghanistan, where he says he spent three years training and fraternising with top Al Qaeda leaders, Badat replied: "Around 20 times, maybe up to 50 times." Fluent in English, Arabic, Urdu and Gujarat ...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime... i, Badat said he smuggled explosives from Afghanistan to Britannia in late 2001 after being recruited by Al-Qaeda to blow up jetliners with bombs hidden in shoes. Fellow British recruit Richard Reid, known as the shoe bomber, is serving a life sentence in the United States for trying to blow up a Gay Paree to Miami flight in December 2001. Badat, then 21, said he worked directly with Reid from October to December that year in Afghanistan, and testified that they were supposed to blow up different planes. He said he "brainstormed for ideas" with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-declared 9/11 plotter, and planned with Mohammed's nephew in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... to bomb a US, transatlantic or intra-Europe flight. The witness, who grew up in a pious Mohammedan family in the English town of Gloucester, said he was introduced to the idea of violent jihad in London in 1997. In 1998 he went to Bosnia, where he met veterans of the Balkans war and was taught how to use weapons. In 1999, as a 19-year-old he traveled to Afghanistan, via Dubai and Pakistain, to train for jihad. In the Afghan city of Kandahar he said he met senior Al Qaeda lieutenant Saif al-Adel ...holed up in Iran from 2002 until 2010, when he made bail and moved back to the Pak-Afghan border... and volunteered to arrange the training of future British recruits. "If you want to take part in attacks against Jews in America, I could arrange that," Badat quoted Saif as telling him at the time. In 1999, Badat said he underwent his first training, being taught how to fire weapons, abseil, use military-grade explosives and make explosives. For a week he also dolled out explosives training at Derunta camp near the Afghan city of Jalalabad and spent six weeks on the frontline between the then ruling Taliban and opposition Northern Alliance. Badat told the court he spent a total of six to nine months in Al Qaeda guest houses in Afghanistan, once working in a shop selling drinks and snacks, and as an English translator for a Taliban magazine. In early 2001 received his first formal Al Qaeda military training at a camp near the southern city of Kandahar, and did three follow-up courses in security and intelligence, including tips on how to blend into Western society. But none of his testimony related to Abu Ghaith. Badat said he never met or spoke to the defendant about any terror plot, and knew nothing about him speaking to anyone else or even knowing about the plot.

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Home Front: WoT

Bin Laden Son-in-Law Terror Trial Opens in New York

2014-03-04

[An Nahar] The terror trial of the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... 's son-in-law and former al-Qaeda front man opened in New York on Monday amid razor-tight security at the Manhattan courthouse. Suleiman Abu Ghaith is accused of conspiracy to kill Americans and supporting bully boyz in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 people. The 48-year-old suspect from Kuwait faces life behind bars if convicted and is one of the most senior alleged al-Qaeda members to face a U.S. trial. Abu Ghaith wore an oversized beige blazer and open-necked white shirt as he sat next to his defense lawyers and listened to a simultaneous translation. Judge Lewis Kaplan began selection for an anonymous jury shortly after 10 am (1500 GMT), eliminating a handful from 44 prospective members on grounds of hardship owing to their personal or work commitments. Abu Ghaith is best known for appearing with bin Laden and the current leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... , in al-Qaeda propaganda videos in September 2001. Married to bin Laden's daughter Fatima, U.S. prosecutors say Abu Ghaith worked for al-Qaeda until 2002, when he fled Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion for Iran. The prosecution claims he was complicit in the December 2001 shoe bombing plot to bring down an airliner flying from Gay Paree to Miami. But the defense says the U.S. has no evidence that Abu Ghaith was involved or even aware of such plots. The defendant pleads not guilty to all three counts. Highlights of the trial are likely to be two witnesses testifying by video link from Britannia and Yemen. On March 10, Saajid Badat, a 33-year-old convicted co-conspirator of Reid's -- subsequently released in Britannia and dubbed by the media a terror "supergrass," British slang for informant -- has been called by the prosecution. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan also authorized the testimony by video link of bin Laden's former driver Salim Hamdan, from Yemen. Hamdan was convicted in the United States of providing material support for terrorists, but his sentence was overturned on appeal. The trial in the U.S. federal court in lower Manhattan is expected to three to four weeks. Kaplan ruled that the trial can begin without the defense receiving 14 pages of testimony from 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2006. The lawyer for Mohammed, the most high-profile detainee held over the 2001 attacks, refused to send the document because U.S. intelligence wanted to vet the answers, according to the defense. It is one of a series of terror cases transferred to New York as U.S. President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... has promised to close down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

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Home Front: WoT

British shoe-bomb suspect testifies at NYC trial

2012-04-21

[Dawn] In a videotaped deposition made public for the first time Thursday, a British man convicted in an aborted shoe-bombing mission admitted meeting with the late Osama bin Laden ... who has made the transition back to dust... after deciding to fight jihad against the West. US prosecutors and defense attorneys interviewed Saajid Badat just outside London late last month in preparation for the New York trial of Adis Medunjanin, accused in the 2009 plot to attack New York's subways with suicide bombs. Badat said that he refused a request to testify in person because he remains under indictment in Boston on charges alleging he conspired with shoe-bomber Richard Reid. "If I go to the United States, I'll be tossed in the calaboose," Badat said on the tape played for a jury on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn. British authorities had revealed earlier this week that Badat would have a role in the Medunjanin prosecution, calling him the first person convicted in the United Kingdom on terrorism charges to agree to give evidence at the trial of alleged terrorists. Badat, 33, pleaded guilty in Britannia to plotting with Reid to bring down separate American trans-Atlantic flights using bombs hidden in their shoes. Unlike Reid, he backed out at the last minute. "I agreed to take an explosive on an aircraft and explode it," he said in the video, looking clean-cut and wearing a suit. He also testified that he had "direct interaction" with bin Laden "more than once" after traveling to Afghanistan in 1999. At the time, he knew the terror network as "The Sheik's Group," with "sheik" referring to bin Laden. Medunjanin is accused of traveling to Pakistain with two friends from his Queens high school in 2008 and receiving terror training from al-Qaeda Prosecutors allege the men, including acknowledged criminal mastermind Najibullah Zazi, agreed to seek martyrdom by dying as jacket wallahs in an attack on Manhattan subway lines at rush hour. Medunjanin, 27, a Bosnian-born naturalized US citizen, has pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, providing material support to a terrorist organization and other charges. He has denied he was ever part of an al-Qaeda operation. Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay pleaded guilty to the plot in 2010 and were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock without bail after agreeing to become government witnesses in a bid for leniency. Both testified against Medunjanin earlier this week. Badat had no involvement with the men. Prosecutors instead want to use his testimony to corroborate what Zazi and Ahmedzay have said about al-Qaeda's leadership and training methods. The British-born son of Malawi immigrants, Badat was 21 when he traveled to both Afghanistan and Pakistain. While in Afghanistan, he was given an bomb designed to evade airport security and destroy an aircraft in flight, authorities said. Badat returned to Britannia with the device on Dec 10, 2001. He ended up stashing the bomb under a bed in his family home in Gloucester, England, and resumed his academic studies. He later told authorities he backed out because he was hoping "to introduce calm into his life." British intelligence tracked down Badat two years later and tossed in the calaboose after Sherlocks matched cords on Reid's device to those on Badat's bomb. Badat was sentenced to 13 years in prison. But British authorities announced this week that in 2009 a judge secretly reduced his sentence to 11 years to reward him for his cooperation in terror investigations. The Brooklyn jury only heard about the first 10 minutes of the videotape, which lasts more than two hours. The rest will be played when the trial resumes on Monday. Reid attempted to bring down a plane in December 2001 and is serving a life sentence in a high-security US prison.

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Britain

Saajid Badat: 'walking angel' who became a terrorist

2012-04-16

Saajid Badat ...also known as Saajid Muhammad Badat... was quiet, softly spoken and respectful - a devout Muslim, described by one family friend as a ''walking angel''. It's quite extraordinary how many walking angels turn into terrorists. Remarkable, really. Satan had angels, too... A bright, well-educated man from a deeply religious family and an active member of his community, he seemed like the model citizen. But unknown to those closest to him, Badat hid a dark secret - one that he would keep hidden until his arrest by anti-terrorism officers in November 2003. A secret that he had once hoped would go forever undetected. Bio details at the link. What's sad is that this guy had both the ability and many opportunities given him to contribute to society. The good news is that he decided not to explode the 'bring down the airplane' device he was given in training camps. The bad news is that he didn't go so far as to uncover other plots until he was caught.

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Britain

'Shoe bomber' has sentence cut after agreeing to give evidence against 'terrorists'

2012-04-16

Saajid Muhammad Badat, ...also known as Saajid Badat... a would-be shoe bomber who was jailed for 13 years for trying to blow up an airliner, has had his sentence cut by two years after agreeing to give evidence against other suspected terrorists, police and prosecutors said today. Badat, who was jailed in 2005, saw his prison sentence reduced to 11 years in 2009 as part of a deal with prosecutors, it can be reported today. It is the first time in the UK that a convicted terrorist has entered into an agreement with the Crown Prosecution Service to give evidence in a trial against other alleged terrorists. Sue Hemming, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said the agreement had not been entered into lightly. It will see Badat give evidence in the US trial of Adis Medunjanin over an alleged al Qaida martyrdom plot from 2008 to 2010, which opens in New York today.

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Britain

Al Qaeda dad wins right to stay in UK because his kids are 'settled'

2010-05-09

Subtitle: Britain is Lost, part MCMXLVIII ... An al Qaeda terror suspect has won his fight to stay in Britain-because the case dragged on so long his children are now "settled" here. A judge ruled that the unnamed Algerian jihadist - who trained at the same terrorist camp as shoe bombers Richard Reid and Saajid Badat - can simply keep on appealing against his deportation even though the Home Office has been trying to kick him out for FIVE YEARS. Suspect T - who arrived here on a false passport and has also admitted lying to the security services and committing fraud - has claimed it's not safe for him to go back to Algeria. Trained in Afghanistan to handle Kalashnikovs and explosives, the dad-of-four tried to get into France and Germany in 1993 and 1997. THEY kicked him out. But the aces in his pack when it comes to the UK have proved to be his children born after he sneaked into the country in 2001. Allowing his THIRD appeal since the Home Office ruled him a threat to national security in 2005, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission said he could stay - because his kids like it here. Mr Justice Mitting insisted that European Human Rights laws, and guidance titled Every Child Matters means a "fine balance must be struck" between the potential risk to the UK population and the interests of T's family. The judge even considered evidence from a primary school teacher that the terror suspect's eldest child is "happy" and from T's solicitor who claimed the eight-year-old has "an ambition to be a doctor." The judge also predicted their 39-year-old father - who now lives in Birmingham and has been on bail since 2005 - will be able to appeal against deportation repeatedly because he is at the back of a queue of eight other Algerians whose cases have to be decided. The judgment comes despite the 39-year-old's links with extremist al Qaeda fighters, and the fact he attended the Khalden terror training camp in Afghanistan where airliner shoe bombers Richard Reid and Saajid Badat were indoctrinated. He later lodged in London with active terror group member Mustafa Melki and associated with Abu Doha, who leads an organisation which backed a bid to bomb LA airport in 1999 and a plan to attack Strasbourg. T was originally detained as part of a Government attempt to deport ten suspected extremists, who launched a series of appeals. All were backed by legal aid and, throughout his appeals, his accommodation and living costs have been taxpayer- funded through benefits and housing allowances. He has also been living under strict police surveillance, estimated to cost £250,000-a-year. So the bill runs into millions.

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Britain

British police probe prison explosion

2005-08-11

Police in Cambridgeshire, England, have been called in to investigate a small explosion at the high-security Whitemoor Prison. Until Thursday, little news was divulged about the Aug. 4 incident, but Sky News reported a Prison Service spokeswoman confirmed a small "firework-like" explosion went off in a wing at about 7:45 p.m. Officials said al-Qaida suspect and would-be shoe-bomber Saajid Badat, 25, who was jailed this year for 13 years, was placed in isolation with three other prisoners after being forensically tested for traces of explosives. Nice to see he's keeping busy in the stir. The prison was locked down for a search by bomb squad staff and detection dogs, the report said. "The device is being analyzed but there is nothing to indicate explosives have been smuggled into the prison," the spokeswoman said. Officials said they believe the explosive was made from ingredients available within the prison, such as sugar and weed killer. Sounds like he may have been doing a little "Show and Tell" for his new buds. I think he watched one too many episodes of McGyver, myself...

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Britain

London bombs made using al-Qaeda formula

2005-07-16

FROM Kabul to King’s Cross, the sinister links of international terrorism are now beginning to emerge from the wreckage of the bomb-blasted Underground trains and the double decker bus. The ingredients for the bombs match the recommended elements for an explosive device outlined in al-Qaeda documents found abandoned in the basements of houses in Kabul soon after the Taleban and their foreign terrorist acolytes fled the Afghan capital in November 2001. A reporter from The Times found hundreds of documents, spelling out al-Qaeda’s blueprints for making every type of bomb, from high-explosive devices to improvised nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. He uncovered huge piles of pages in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Mandarin, Russian and even English. One of the documents included a list of chemicals found in household products which could produce an effective explosive mix when combined with other elements. The hand-written formula included using triacetone triperoxide (TATP), also known as acetone peroxide and nicknamed “Mother of Satan” because of its volatility; and also their own version of C4, the military plastic explosive. TATP is a primer for an explosive device. Security sources indicated yesterday that a version of the Kabul blueprint, based on TATP, had been used by the bomb-maker involved in the London terrorist attacks. The presence of acetone peroxide stamps a link not only with al-Qaeda but also with previous bomb plots, including the attempt by Richard Reid, the Muslim-convert Briton who tried to blow up an airliner in December 2001, and the plot by Saajid Badat, another Briton,who was arrested in November 2003 after aborting a plan to blow up an airliner with explosives in a sock. Acetone peroxide was found in the heel of Reid’s black basketball shoes after he was overpowered on board a Boeing 767 American Airlines aircraft in December 2001. There was also an element of PETN, a military-style plastic explosive that can be moulded into any shape. The al-Qaeda formula for explosives has now found its way into the Leeds homes of the London bombers, although since the shoe-bomber plot and the early designs drawn up in the Kabul documents, there have been many refinements. The bombs detonated in the Underground and on the bus appear to have been a carefully balanced mix of commercially available materials and military-style ingredients. The evidence of this explosive primer in the four London bombs indicates for the first time that the ingredients were acquired in this country and not brought in from abroad.

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Britain

El-Nashar's boss is a British-born Pakistani, linked to Richard Reid

2005-07-15

THE British-born mastermind of the London attacks had direct links with al-Qaeda, police sources confirmed yesterday. He is believed to be connected to a senior figure who took part in an al-Qaeda terror summit in Pakistan 16 months ago where a list of future targets was reportedly finalised. While the police priority is to trace any bombers still at large, intelligence agencies are trying to confirm that al-Qaeda had a hand in the London attack. I'm pretty close to 100 percent certain. Forensic scientists said last night that the explosives used by the London bombers was the same type used by the convicted British shoe-bombers Richard Reid and Saajid Badat. Scientists hope to establish today whether it originated from the same batch. It was made from ingredients known to be taught to al-Qaeda recruits in Afghanistan training camps and elsewhere, confirming suspicions that the London bombings were the work of al-Qaeda. It was first suspected that it was the work of a UK radical group that sympathised with Osama bin Laden’s ideas, and the operation had been planned and executed in Europe. That view may now have to refined. Yeah. I'd say. The Egyptian controller's a pretty unlikely coincidence. The liaison flying in from Pakland is the capper. The involvement with Lashkar-e-Taiba's pretty significant, too... The mastermind, who is of Pakistani origin, is thought to have been trained in an al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and has been linked to previous terror operations. The authorities were more interested last night in tracking down this alleged mastermind, rather than hold an inquest into how someone on MI5’s watchlist was able to slip in and out of Britain. They also need to know whether he recruited another cell of suicide bombers who are awaiting orders elsewhere in Britain. My guess is "yes." What's yours? Whatever his legacy, he followed al-Qaeda’s standard procedure of ensuring that he left Britain before the attacks. He is understood to have flown out of a London airport the night before. Bingo. Organisers of the Madrid and Istanbul bombings are believed to be in Iraq, well beyond the reach of Western security services. The Turks are waiting for the Iraqis to hand over one of the Istanbul organizers... As police piece together how this man had spent the past weeks in Britain they are investigating how he first made contact with the men from West Yorkshire. The conjecture is that he could have met at least one of them in Pakistan when they were on religious study in the past year. When you go to Muridke for religious study that causes my suspicion meter to peg... Experts say that it is unlikely that the three Leeds men would have known initially that this was a suicide operation. Which experts? They said the same thing about the 9-11 hijackers... Investigators are also tracing the mastermind’s alleged links to three major al-Qaeda figures. One of these is said to be in US custody. Intelligence is being re-examined from the summit held last year in a mountain village in the northwestern province of Waziristan. A month after he took part in that summit, Mohammed Barbar, a New York computer executive, was arrested near his home in Queens. He admitted to being an “al-Qaeda sleeper”. He had arrived at the summit carrying cash and supplies for jihadis fighting in Afghanistan. Babar, 29, has betrayed a number of fellow sleepers during his interrogation and the information led to the arrest of 13 people in Britain. The US authorities have charged him with trying to buy materials to make bombs for attacks in the UK. Britain has asked the FBI to question him about the London operation. Another key suspect in US custody, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, was handed over by Pakistan last month. He was described as al-Qaeda’s operational commander, so is expected to know what was discussed at the summit last year. So far he has been uncooperative. Give him more giggle juice.

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