A BRITISH court has convicted three men of conspiring to murder hundreds of people in a terrorist attack.
Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman were found guilty at London’s Woolwich Crown Court and could face life imprisonment.
The three men were among eight tried in connection with a 2006 plot to detonate homemade liquid bombs on seven transatlantic jets.
The discovery of the plot led to strict new rules about carrying liquids on commercial flights.
They were cleared by a jury of their role in targeting the jets but put on trial again to face charges of conspiracy to murder, based on “martyrdom videos” they recorded threatening attacks on western targets.
“Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman were actively working alongside other men on a plot to cause death and injury on a massive scale,” said prosecutor Sue Hemming.
“They were cleared in the previous trial of being aware of the ultimate targets of the plot, but we say that they were committed to the principle and practice of violent jihad to the point of targeting innocent people in an attempt to further their cause.”
A total of 12 people were convicted in relation to the liquid bomb plot, including ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali, who was sentenced last September to a minimum of 40 years in jail.
The plan was to smuggle explosives made of hydrogen peroxide onto the planes in soft drink bottles. Refilled batteries would carry the chemical detonator, with the bombs set off using a charge from a light bulb filament.
They would have been assembled and detonated in mid-air by a team of suicide bombers, causing untold damage, prosecutors said.
Be the first to comment