THE TELEGRAPH: A plot to blow up transatlantic airliners was ''the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven'' in Britain, the trial judge has said.
Sentencing the three Muslim extremists behind the plans, Mr Justice Henriques said the gang was planning a ''grave'' terrorist atrocity which would have been comparable to the Sept 11 attacks.
Airliner bomb plot ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali was jailed for life with a minimum of 40 years today for planning what judge Mr Justice Henriques said was an atrocity comparable with the September 11 attacks. Co-conspirator Assad Sarwar was given life with a minimum of 36 years and Tanvir Hussain was sentenced to life with a minimum of 32 years.
The trio, part of an al-Qaeda-inspired terror cell, planned to detonate home-made liquid bombs on board flights bound for major North American cities, Woolwich Crown Court heard. The judge said they were only prevented from accomplishing their goal by the largest-ever counter-terrorism operation in the UK.
Mr Justice Henriques said: ''The intention was to perpetrate a terrorist outrage that would stand alongside the events of September 11, 2001 in history.''
The judge added that the airline bomb plot had ''reached an advanced stage in its development''.
He said the men had ''sufficient chemicals for 20 home-made detonators of commercial strength''.
''I'm satisfied that there is every likelihood that this plot would have succeeded but for the intervention of the police and the security service,'' he said. >>> | Monday, September 14, 2009
