Canadian had detonators at home
crown: U.K. Bomb plot trial
Ian MacLeod, CanWest News Service
Published: Thursday, March 23, 2006
canada.com
LONDON - When Mounties raided the Ottawa residence of Momin Khawaja two years ago, they found homemade electronic equipment to detonate bombs in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, possibly including Europe's largest shopping centre, a British prosecutor revealed in court yesterday.
They also discovered unspecified "documents" about Islamic jihad, or holy war, and Mr. Khawaja's "radical views in that direction," Crown attorney David Waters told the Old Bailey trial of seven young Britons charged with plotting a terror campaign against Britain for its support of the U.S. war against Islamic extremists. The men deny the charges.
Police later recovered e-mails allegedly written by Mr. Khawaja to one of the men on trial. They detailed his efforts in late 2003 and early 2004 from his family's home to make remote-controlled detonators with electronic transmitters and receivers. "Then we get fireworks," said one message.
On Jan. 19, 2004, Mr. Khawaja allegedly wrote: "It's not working correctly yet, we need a few more days on this."
Three weeks later, Mr. Waters said, Mr. Khawaja relayed another message: "We're starting to work on a far more sophisticated project that could be of great benefit to the 'J' [jihad]."
Although Mr. Khawaja has not been charged with any crime in Britain -- he is to stand trial on terrorism charges in Ottawa next year and denies any involvement in the supposed plot -- Mr. Waters' seven-hour opening address portrayed the 26-year-old Ottawa computer expert as a "vital" member of the alleged terror cell because of his skills in making the all-important detonators.
Although the alleged conspiracy had not decided on a final target or targets, based on Mr. Waters' accusations, the plotters were intent on unleashing a catastrophic strike against the United Kingdom.
Among the accusations, the 12-member jury was told:
- In February, 2004, about a month before the men's arrests, defendant Jawad Akbar, 22, suggested the group bomb London's biggest nightclub, which was not named.
In a conversation recorded by a joint British police-MI5 security service surveillance operation of the group, he allegedly said: "The biggest nightclub in London, no one can put their hands up and say they are innocent -- those slags dancing around."
- On a Friday in March, 2004, while riding with another defendant in a car bugged by police, defendant Waheed Mahmood, 33, made it clear he wanted to act sooner rather than later, Mr. Waters said.
Mr. Mahmood asked the other man, defendant Omar Khyam, 24, "Is it worth getting all the brothers together tonight and asking who would be ready to go?"
Mr. Mahmood later suggested "a little explosion at Bluewater -- tomorrow if you want," Mr. Waters said.
The Bluewater Shopping Centre, east of London in Kent, is Europe's largest shopping centre, with 330 shops, restaurants and bars, plus golfing, fishing, boating and other activities. On a Saturday in March, as allegedly suggested by Mr. Mahmood, the complex would be filled with shoppers and families on weekend outings.
- When police searched Mr. Khyam's home in Crawley, a bedroom community about an hour west of London, they found a list of British synagogues, which Mr. Waters suggested were being considered as potential bombing targets.
He related that discovery to an October, 2003, e-mail Mr. Khawaja wrote to Mr. Khyam in which he talked of a "one-way operation to the most high ... may be [sic] in Yahoodiland." Mr. Waters said the message suggests Mr. Khawaja had been planning a one-man suicide-bombing campaign against Jews, possibly at a location connected to Israel.
"Clearly, six months [later] the plan wasn't for a suicide bomber," Mr. Waters said, "and the location had changed because all these synagogues in this list were situated in Britain, but the possible targets perhaps had not."
- In the summer of 2003, four of the defendants and Mr. Khawaja allegedly attended a terrorist training camp in northern Pakistan, where they learned to make explosives, Mr. Waters said. They were also instructed in the use of the deadly poison ricin, he said.
- Defendant Salahuddin Amin, 30, who holds dual Pakistani-British citizenship, moved to Pakistan in late 2001 and, Mr. Waters alleged, became involved in efforts to help Afghan Islamic fighters in their battle with U.S. forces. During that period, he befriended a ranking al-Qaeda operative.
"An indication to the trust imposed in Amin and his position in the Pakistan end of the operation is gained from the passing of information to him in relation to a radioisotope bomb," Mr. Waters told the court.
The al-Qaeda operative, "asked Amin to contact a man named Abu Annis. Amin did so via the Internet and Abu Annis said they had made contact with the Russian mafia in Belgium and from the mafia they were trying to buy this bomb."
Commonly known as a "dirty bombs," the devices can be made from low-level radioactive substances taken from hospital X-ray machines, industrial measuring gauges and even household smoke alarms.
If the radioactive sources are properly milled into fine particles and dispersed by a conventional explosive, such bombs could spread radioactive particles over an area of several blocks, contaminating the scene, triggering widespread panic and causing an increased risk of cancer for exposed individuals.
The trial continues today. |
