Airline bomb plotters planned deaths at unprecendented scale

Apr 3, 2008, 15:52 GMT

London - Eight men accused of having planned suicide attacks on US-bound transatlantic aircraft aimed to cause death on an 'unprecedented scale', prosecutors said in London Thursday.

In a plot foiled by security forces in August 2006, the second- generation British Muslims had planned to smuggle home-made devices on board aircraft and detonate them in mid-flight, Woolwich Crown Court in south-west London heard.

The accused were about to put their plans into action at the time of their arrest, prosecutor Peter Wright was quoted as saying by the Press Association news agency.

The defendants, who deny all charges, were about to board seven planes with all the ingredients necessary to build explosive devices, hidden in containers for liquids, it was alleged.

They had calculated their own deaths as well as those of all other passengers on the planes bound for San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, New York as well as Toronto and Montreal in Canada, the court heard.

The planes in question had maximum capacities of 241 to 285 passengers, Wright said. It remained unclear what exact date the alleged suicide bombers had in mind for their attacks.

The men had scheduled another meeting for August 9 before they were arrested on August 10 after months of police observation. Wright added that security forces had been lucky to receive information about their plans.

The names of the eight, dubbed by the British media the 'liquid bombers', were given as Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, Assad Sawar, 24, Tanvir Hussain, 27, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, Waheed Zaman, 23, and Umar Islam, also known as Brian Young, 29.

Their arrest led to global restrictions for taking liquids on board of aircraft.

A dramatic increase in security measures at airports led to a rise in waiting times, also saddling airports and airlines with millions in additional costs.