LONDON, 21 July 2007 — Avon and Somerset police yesterday arrested two Afghan men in Bristol in south west England after a routine drugs swoop turned into a major terrorist investigation.
Police had stopped and searched an Asian man suspected of dealing in drugs in the Castle Park area of Bristol. When they routinely searched his apartment in Stapleton Road they found two 25 liter containers labeled as hydrogen peroxide. Police immediately cordoned off the area and called in forensic experts who amongst other things took away samples of the liquid in the containers for analysis and to investigate any potential link to planned terrorist activity. They later arrested a second man connected to the flat.
Steve Mortimore, Assistant Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset police, explained that “if it is hydrogen peroxide that would obviously cause extreme concern. But we do have two men in custody, we have got the chemical taken away from the premises, and we are reassuring the community and taking it seriously at this time of heightened vigilance.”
Hydrogen peroxide was one of the ingredients used by terrorists to prepare the bombs used in the failed July 21, 2005 attacks on London’s transport system. On July 13, 2007 a judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London yesterday sentenced four Al Qaeda-linked men involved in the 21/7 plot to life imprisonment with a recommendation that they serve a minimum tariff of 40 years each.
Avon and Somerset police are questioning the two men and are keen to know why they would have two 25-liter containers purportedly labeled hydrogen peroxide in their flat. Of course, the two men could be innocent bystanders if the liquids turn out to be a harmless substance.
But if it is proven to be hydrogen peroxide, it could trigger off another major terrorist alert, this time in an area of England which has thus far been unaffected by the recent spate of terror arrests and convictions. It would also indicate that potential terror cells are now infiltrating Middle England.
The detention of the above two also coincided with the appearance yesterday of 26-year-old Jordanian-trained medic, Dr. Mohammed Jamil Asha, at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on charges of conspiracy to cause explosions following the attempted car bomb attacks in central London on June 29, 2007 and Jeep attack at Glasgow Airport the following day. Dr. Asha’s appearance was very brief, simply confirming his name and address and a plea of not guilty.
According to Scotland Yard, Dr. Asha, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, is accused with unlawfully and maliciously conspiring with Bilal Abdullah, Kafeel Ahmed and “others unknown” to cause explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury.
He was remanded in custody for one week and will be sent to trial at the Old Bailey at a date still to be decided by the judge.
Dr. Asha, a father-of-one from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, was arrested with his wife Marwa Asha, 27, a laboratory technician, on the M6 motorway in Cheshire on June 30.
He is the fourth person to be charged in connection with the failed alleged terror attacks in central London and Glasgow Airport.
In the first attack on June 29, Scotland Yard officers found two Mercedes saloon cars containing petrol and propane gas cylinders and a cocktail of nails and bolts in the Haymarket outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub and Cockspur Street in central London. Due to faulty connections, the detonators fortunately failed to explode. The second attack on the next day, a blazing Jeep Cherokee, similarly packed with gas and petrol cylinders and nails, was driven into the main terminal building at Glasgow International Airport. Fortunately, the Jeep failed to break through barriers and thus did not enter the actual terminal building where hundreds of passengers were gathered. These seemingly coordinated attacks precipitated a massive manhunt in the UK.
Iraqi doctor Bilal Talal Samad Abdullah was the first to be charged on 6 July with conspiracy to cause explosions. He was arrested at Glasgow airport following the suspected failed car bombing there. He is due to appear at the Old Bailey in London on July 27, 2007.
On July 14, Australian police charged Mohammed Haneef, a 27-year-old Indian doctor and a cousin of Drs Sabeel and Kafeel Ahmed, with providing “reckless support” to a terrorist organisation. He was later granted bail of A$10,000 (GBP4,300) by a judge in Brisbane, but will remain behind bars under Australian immigration law.
Another suspect Dr. Sabeel Ahmed, 26, of Liverpool who worked at the Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, was also charged on July 14 with having information that could have prevented an act of terrorism. He was remanded in custody by a judge sitting at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, awaiting a trial date.
Dr. Sabeel’s brother, Dr. Kafeel Ahmed is in a critical condition in the specialized burns unit at Glasgow Royal Infirmary after setting himself alight during the failed suicide bomb attack when a Jeep Cherokee was driven into the terminal building at Glasgow Airport and set ablaze. Dr. Kafeel, however, in the charge sheet relating to Dr. Asha was named by Scotland Yard as a co-conspirator in the London and Glasgow car bomb attacks.
Doctors at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary who are treating Dr. Kafeel have warned that he is in an “extremely poor physical state” and unlikely to survive his injuries.
