British Muslim 'wanted to blow up Tube train under Thames'
By Adam Fresco and Sean O’Neill
Times Online November 06, 2006
timesonline.co.uk
Dhiren Barot
A terrorist plotted to explode a series of bombs in Britain, causing "the loss of innocent human life on a massive scale", including blowing up a train while it travelled underneath the Thames and using a dirty bomb.
Dhiren Barot, 35, wanted to fill three limousines packed with gas cylinders, explosives and shrapnel and then blow them up in car parks under key buildings.
Reconnaissance on well known London hotels and mainline railway stations were found by anti-terrorist police.
Barot, who grew up in north-west London, wanted to create "another black day for the enemies of Islam" Woolwich Crown Court heard today.
Edmund Lawson, QC, for the prosecution, outlined the case against Barot, who has admitted conspiracy to murder between January 2000 and August 2004, detailing the plans he had to carry out mass murder both in this country and America.
He said: "The criminal plot was to carry out massive explosions here and in the US. The principle object was to kill hundreds if not thousands of innocent people without warning."
Talking about the Gas Limousine Project (GLP) Mr Lawson said that in early 2004 Barot, who was a "member or close associate of al-Qaeda" travelled to Pakistan to get the plans for a series of co-ordinated attacks approved. He had costed the attacks as though they were business plans, the barrister said.
"He set out within a proposal plans for the detonation of a radiation dispersal device, more commonly known as a ’dirty bomb’, the use of a petrol tanker to cause an explosion and attacks on the London rail or underground network.
"Barot included the Heathrow Express as a possible target or an explosion on a Tube train whilst in a tunnel under the river.
"As to the last he [Barot] wrote: ’imagine the chaos that would be caused if a powerful explosion were to rip through here and actually rupture the river itself. ’This would cause pandemonium, what with the explosions, flooding, drowning etc that would occur or result.’"
Mr Lawson said that it was only "an outstanding counter-terrorism operation" that thwarted Barot, a British citizen, from carrying out his plans when he was arrested in August 2004.
Although plans to blow up buildings in America were shelved because of the success of 9/11, they were not forgotten, the high security court heard.
They included attacks on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York and the Prudential building in Newark.
Mr Lawson said of these attacks: "Various possible methods of attack were raised for consideration including parking limousines packed with explosives next to or under the target, arson, by means of hijacked petrol tankers, or igniting gas cylinders or possibly the use of an aeroplane.
"The plans involved the giving of no warnings and were designed to kill as many innocent civilians as was possible."
He added: "On the evidence he organised the production of the plans to carry out the attacks in America, developing later into plots to kill and cause disruption in this country.
"Here he recruited his co-defendants to provide the support he needed to carry out the reconnaissance necessary in the US where he went himself to select the target buildings.
"Then in this country he conducted the research for the proposal and then for the preparation for the attack. This picture is consistent with the terms of a letter written by Barot himself, which has been recovered from computer equipment where he speaks of a ‘small unit' that is operating ‘around the clock’ and a passage in the Gas Limos Project where he refers to his group as a ’sleeper cell’."
Mr Lawson said that there was DNA and fingerprint evidence linking Barot to conspiracy plans found on DVDs and other computer equipment.
"The care he took in terms of his meetings with his co-defendants, the use of coded messages and the anti-surveillance tactics he employed to unsure that observation of his activity would be as difficult as possible lends further support to his role as the organiser of major terrorist activity designed to strike at the heart of both America and this country and to cause the loss of innocent human life on a massive scale."
Mr Lawson told the court how Barot and other members of his terrorist cell used sophisticated anti-surveillance techniques in case they were being watched by the auhtorities.
Barot used a variety of vehicles and had no fixed address in Britain; he had a mobile phone but never used it to speak to other alleged members of the cell. On one occasion members of the gang drove from London to Swansea to use an internet cafe.
Three members of the unit used Yahoo e-mail addresses entitled "kewl n kinki", "nightwithkylie" and "bridget-jonesdiaries" to communicate with each other in code which the authorities have not yet been able to break.
Mr Lawson said: "These e-mails are written in the style of teenagers discussing music, television and using language and employing sexual references which would not normally be considered appropriate to devout Muslims."
The messages contained references to Big Brother and other television programmes and reminded the reader "Don’t bring your friend" - a reminder to be careful about being followed.
The hearing continues.
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