Life for airline bomb plotters
MARK HENNESSY, London Editor | September 15, 2009
THREE BRITISH-BORN Muslims who plotted to blow up transatlantic aircraft in mid-flight from Heathrow to the United States and Canada in 2006 were jailed for life yesterday.
The main plotter, Abdulla Ahmed Ali (28), was jailed for at least 40 years, while the man who prepared the hydrogen peroxide-filled “liquid bombs”, Assad Sarawr [sic; read: "Sarwar"], must serve at least 36 years. The third man, Tanvir Hussain (28), was jailed for at least 32 years at Woolwich Crown Court.
British detectives said the terrorist conspiracy was intercepted just days before the men would have carried bombs on board flights from Heathrow to San Francisco, Washington, New York, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal. The operation had huge worldwide ramifications, leading to tight restrictions on the amount of liquids passengers could take on board aircraft.
The men had planned to fill empty bottles of Lucozade and Oasis drinks with the liquid explosive, matching in colour the original contents to get past security. If set off, they would have been powerful enough to bring down each aircraft.
The nature of the plot provoked major changes to airport security and draconian curbs on liquids being brought on board. Some of these measures are still in place.
When sentencing the men, Mr Justice Henriques said they had attempted “the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within this jurisdiction”, and one that would have stood “alongside” 9/11 if it had succeeded.
A fourth man, Umar Islam (31), already convicted of conspiracy to murder, will serve a minimum of 22 years in jail. Three others, on whom a jury failed to reach a verdict, may yet face a third trial.
The ingredients for the bombs were found by police at the home of Sarwar in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and in woods nearby, while a flat in Walthamstow in London, where the bombs were to be made, was also raided.
The convicted men displayed no emotion as their sentences were read out in court, although Ahmed Ali shook his head and appeared angry and frustrated at earlier sentencing remarks from the judge.
The minimum 40-year term imposed on Ahmed Ali is the same as that given to those convicted of the failed London suicide attacks of July 21st, 2005, though the judge said this plot had had a better chance of success.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
