Trial of UK bomb plot suspects begins

The trial of seven British men alleged to be part of a Muslim extremist group that plotted to set off explosives in Britain began on Tuesday in London.

David Waters, the prosecutor, told a jury at London’s Old Bailey criminal court that the men allegedly planned to carry out attacks on nightclubs, trains and the electricity network between January 2003 and March 2004.

Police raided houses in London and its suburbs, arresting the seven men and seizing 600kg of fertilisers which could be used to make bombs, the prosecutor said.

“The interception came only when most of the necessary components were in place and all that remained before their plans achieved their ultimate goal was for the target or targets to be finally agreed,” Waters told the jury.

He alleged they plotted to make “a bomb or bombs which would be deployed at the very least to destroy a strategic plant within the United Kingdom, or more realistically to kill and injure citizens of the UK”.

Waters said the explosion or explosions were to take place in the UK but much of the preparation was to take place in Pakistan and in Canada through the group’s accomplices there.

He said the courts would also hear evidence from the US from the Pakistani-born US citizen Mohammed Babar, who pleaded guilty in New York to various terrorist-related offences.

Agencies