LONDON, 16 June 2007 — Seven members of an Al-Qaeda “sleeper cell” in Britain were yesterday jailed for a total of 136 years by Justice Alexander Butterfield at Woolwich Crown Court in south London over a plot to kill thousands of people in the UK and US.
The so-called “dirty bomb plot” involved attacks using an explosives-packed limousine loaded with gas cylinders; using a petrol tanker to cause an explosion; and a dirty radiation bomb. Targets included blowing apart a London Underground tunnel under the River Thames to cause widespread drowning of commuters, and iconic buildings in London’s financial district and New York’s Wall Street. The gang leader, Dhiren Barot, a Hindu convert to Islam who was named as an “Al-Qaeda general,” is serving a life sentence for his part in the conspiracy.
Sentencing the seven, Justice Butterfield stressed that “Barot was the instigator of this terrorist planning. He was by some considerable distance the principal participant in the conspiracy. Each one of you was recruited by Barot and assisted him at his request.
“Anyone who chooses to participate in such a plan... will receive little sympathy from the courts.” The judge told the men the pain caused to their families as a result of their imprisonment “is but a tiny fraction of the suffering that would have been experienced had your plans been translated into reality.”
British Home Secretary John Reid welcomed the verdict and reiterated that “the outcome of this trial once again shows the extent of the very real and serious threat the UK faces from terrorism.”
Scotland Yard mounted a counterterrorism investigation code named Operation Rhyme. Much of the evidence against the plotters was collected from computers and tapes seized from the premises used by the conspirators, and also from telephone surveillance.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counterterrorism Command, said that although the seven did not instigate the planned attacks, Barot needed their help and expertise.
“Dhiren Barot and his gang were determined terrorists who planned bombings on both sides of the Atlantic. The plans called for a series of coordinated attacks in the United Kingdom, included packing three limousines with gas cylinders and explosives before setting them off in underground car parks. This could have caused huge loss of life. The plans to set off a dirty bomb in this country would have caused fear, panic and widespread disruption.”
Scotland Yard stressed that the plotters were skilled in anti-surveillance techniques, with Feroze and Jalil having traveled hundreds of miles to use an Internet cafe.
Those sentenced were: Abdul Aziz Jalil, 24, of Luton, who was jailed for 26 years; Junade Feroze, 31, from Blackburn, Lancashire, who received 22 years; Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 27, of Harrow in north London; and Nadeem Tarmohamed, 29 of Wembley in north London, who were each jailed for 20 years; Zia Ul-Haq, 28, of Wembley, who got 18 years; and Omar Abdur Rehman, 23 of Bushey in Hertfordshire; and Qaisar Shaffi, 28, of Willesden, northwest London, who were sentenced to 15 years each.
All, except Shaffi, pleaded guilty in April 2007 to conspiracy to cause explosions likely to endanger life. But Shaffi was convicted of conspiracy to murder after a month-long trial which ended earlier this week.
Crown prosecutors, in their evidence, stressed that Barot presented his meticulous plans to Al-Qaeda figures hiding in Pakistan, and submitted detailed funding requirements and explained how the campaign would benefit their cause. The plans resembled professional business plans in their complexity and detail.
The seven men, stressed the prosecutors, played important supporting roles to Barot who prosecutors say had devised multiple bombing operations. These roles included couriers, drivers, counter surveillance, devising false identities, minders and researchers.
Bhatti, for instance had a first-class degree in engineering, and used his knowledge to research how bombs could most effectively work. Similarly Zia Ul-Haq was a qualified architect who advised on the vulnerable spots in buildings structures.
