Thursday, September 17, 2009

Times : Airline terror bomb plot: profiles of the accused

Airline terror bomb plot: profiles of the accused

Sean O'Neill, Crime & Security Editor | September 7, 2009

One was a ticket inspector on London's buses who was sent to help passengers after the 7/7 bombings; another worked in Hamleys toy shop on Regent Street and a couple were avid football fans.

Two others had known each other since primary school, while one maintained that he preferred drinking beer and chasing girls over prayer and politics.

They were British, either born or raised here, with British educations and British habits, accents and mannerisms. Two were converts to Islam. But the jury was told they had learnt to hate Britain and had agreed to play their parts in a terrorist operation which, had it succeeded, would have rivalled September 11 in shocking the world.

It was part of their indoctrination that they would be lionised in parts of the Muslim world and would emulate the men known to al-Qaeda sympathisers as the "magnificent 19", the 9/11 hijackers.

THE LEAD BOMBER

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 28, a married father of a young child, has a degree in computer systems engineering. He was born in east London and lived in Walthamstow where he knew a number of his co-defendants from school and college.

In 2004 his first son was born two months prematurely and died in hospital. Ali said the experience left him emotionally devastated.

He has a brother who works as a probation officer, another working on the London Underground and a third who is a property developer. He has been religiously devout since he was 15 when he became an adherent of the ultra-orthodox Tablighi Jamaat movement.

Ali visited Pakistan extensively and claimed that many of his trips were as a volunteer for an Islamic medical charity. But in reality he was attending training camps and meeting senior figures in militant groups.

Ali took the lead role in recruiting the would-be suicide bombers, continually motivating them and sitting with them as they recorded their martyrdom videos in the flat he had bought in Walthamstow. He discussed taking his baby on the bombing mission to reduce his chances of arousing suspicion.

Prisoners in Belmarsh jail have described Ali as the "emir" or leader of the east London group with considerable influence over other inmates.

* Guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause explosions and conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

THE QUARTERMASTER

Assad Ali Sarwar, 29, lived with his parents and sister in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. He was a university drop-out and a loner who was unemployed at the time of his arrest.

But Sarwar was valuable to the jihadi cause, too valuable to be allowed to die in a suicide mission. He was the man who would distribute the martyrdom videos after the attack and who conducted detailed research on oil refineries and power stations as possible alternative targets for the bombers.

He also scoured the country to obtain supplies of hydrogen peroxide for use in bomb making. Strong concentrations of the chemical became harder to obtain in the wake of the July 2005 bombings in London.

Sarwar was born and brought up in High Wycombe, did well at school but dropped out of Brunel University, west London, where he had been studying Earth Sciences.

He became involved in religious charities and travelled to Pakistan where he said he met Ali at a refugee camp near the Afghan border.

Between 2002-05 he held a variety of jobs as a postman, shelf-stacker at Asda, security guard and IT worker for BT.

* Guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause explosions and conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

THE LIEUTENANT

Tanvir Hussain, 28, claimed he had been a womaniser who drank heavily, used drugs and loved nightclubs but emerged as Ali's loyal lieutenant.

He was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, but moved to London with his family when he was six and met Ali while studying A levels at Waltham Forest College. Hussain later took a business and computers course at Middlesex University and told his trial that as a student he regularly drank and used drugs.

By 2003, however, he was a devout Muslim and began to display signs of extremism. One former colleague at St Anne's hospital, North London, said he became "quite agitated" after the 7/7 attacks in London. Zenda Rogers added: "He said I didn't understand what was going on and they were being persecuted".

* Guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft, conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause explosions and conspiracy to cause public nuisance.

SON OF TORY AGENT

Donald Stewart-Whyte was the most unlikely plotter, the art student son of a former Tory election agent and a Muslim convert for less than five months after his arrest

Stewart-Whyte, 23, admitted to dealing cannabis and having possession of a Baikal 9mm handgun with ammunition but denied that he was part of any terrorist mass murder plot. He was cleared by the jury of the terrorism charges.

The prosecution had alleged that he was a "foot soldier" who had signalled his willingness to take part in a mid-air suicide mission. But he claimed he knew nothing of the airline plot and had turned to Islam as a route away from anxiety attacks, mental health problems and drug use.

* Not guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft and conspiracy to murder. Guilty of firearms charge and drugs charge.

THE 'FOOTSOLDIERS':

Waheed Zaman, 25, was the most highly educated of the group. He did poorly at GCSE level at school in east London but his ambitious parents, who wanted him to study medicine, sent him to a private boarding school to improve his chances of getting into university.

Zaman took a degree in biomedical sciences at London Metropolitan University but also devoted a lot of time to the student Islamic Society. The institution has since appointed an imam tasked with countering campus radicalism.

Zaman hung the red flag of Liverpool FC in his bedroom window on match days. He was also a dedicated political activist, attending Islamist events, and a devout follower of Tablighi Jamaat, the orthodox sect which controls the mosque opposite his family home on Queen's Road, Walthamstow.

To his family's disappointment, he did not use his education for a career and devoted most of his time to political and religious activities. Zaman's only paid employment appeared to be a Saturday job at Hamleys on Regent Street where he was working on August 5 2006, four days before his arrest.

* Guilty of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Not guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft. Jury failed to reach a verdict on conspiracy to murder.

Umar Islam, 31, was known as Brian Young and was a cannabis user and sometime Rastafarian before he converted to Islam and embraced fundamentalism.

He was one of five children and was brought up in a Methodist family in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. His conversion to Islam came in March 2001 and he was a regular attendee at the Islamic Education Centre in High Wycombe.

In 2002 he travelled to Pakistan to work in a refugee camp on behalf of the charity and told the court he represented the charity in meetings with UN officials.

Back in Britain he left his job as a postman in his home town and moved to east London to live with his new wife, a strict Muslim. Islam said he clashed with his wife's family, who were of Pakistani origin and disapproved of their daughter marrying a black man.

Islam began working for Transport for London as a ticket inspector on the buses in January 2005.

On July 7 2005 Islam was on duty close to Tavistock Square when a suicide bomber blew up a No 30 bus killing 13 passengers and himself. Islam was among the transport staff who rushed to the scene to help shocked and stricken passengers and passers by.

* Guilty of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Jury failed to reach a verdict on conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft.

Arafat Waheed Khan, 27, bumbled his way through two recordings of his martyrdom video, stopping at one point to ask Ali "What do you mean by that?".

Khan was brought to London from Pakistan by his parents when he was just 12 months old and first met Ali at primary school in east London.

He went astray aged 16, when his father died of a heart attack, and failed his A-levels. Khan had a series of jobs as a shop assistant at House of Fraser, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Ralph Lauren.

In 2000 he was given an 80-hour community service order for stealing a car and the following year escaped with a conditional discharge after being caught with a small amount of heroin.

At the time of his arrest he was working as a mobile phone sales assistant at a branch of The Link.

* Guilty of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Not guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft. Jury failed to reach a verdict on conspiracy to murder.

Ibrahim Savant, 28, was brought up as Oliver Savant, the son of an English mother and an Indian father. As a design student at the University of Hertford, he took up his father's Muslim faith and adopted the name Ibrahim.

Friends said he was not a fanatic and loved English life; he was an Arsenal supporter whose favourite food was fish and chips.

Savant became involved in charity work with Ali and worked as a freelance book-keeper. His wife was eight months pregnant when he was detained in August 2006.

Savant had left an envelope containing £650 and a farewell note to her stating: "Life here is tempory (sic), that's why its so fragile. I wish for you to be part of my permant (sic) life in the hereafter."

* Guilty of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. Not guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions on aircraft. Jury failed to reach a verdict on conspiracy to murder.