Guardian : Accused admits buying fertiliser for bomb, but 'not to use here'

Accused admits buying fertiliser for bomb, but 'not to use here'

by Jeevan Vasagar | September 27, 2006

An alleged member of a British al-Qaida cell who bought more than half a tonne of chemical fertiliser told the Old Bailey yesterday that he knew it was for bombing.

The prosecution claims Anthony Garcia, 24, and six others conspired to bomb Britain using the ammonium nitrate. But Mr Garcia said he had believed the fertiliser was to be shipped to Pakistan for use in Kashmir.

He told the jury that he had been asked to buy the material in November 2003 by one of his co-defendants, Omar Khyam. "[Khyam] said the brothers in Pakistan have asked me to get some fertiliser and ship it out to them.

"He said he could not do it because he is Asian and might arouse some suspicion."

Mr Garcia had previously told the court how he started fundraising for militants in Kashmir after watching a video about alleged atrocities against Muslims. He said: "At the time I thought it was really the same as fundraising because I thought it was going to help people in Kashmir - to be used as an explosive, as a bomb ... It would be basically to protect the villages under attack from the Indian soldiers."

The next he heard about it was in March 2004 when he was arrested, Mr Garcia said.

The defendant said yesterday that he was taken to a militant training camp in Pakistan, but it turned out to be just a field, where they were only allowed to fire guns on the last day for fear of disturbing villagers. "I thought, you know, it would be like the camps I had heard of, with monkey bars and stuff.

"But it was just a field on the side of a mountain with really high grass. It was definitely disappointing."

The defendant said that he spent two and a half weeks at the camp but eventually faked a leg injury to get out of jogging.

Mr Garcia, of Barkingside, east London, Mr Khyam, 24, of Crawley, Sussex, and five others deny conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1 2003 and March 31 2004.

Mr Garcia, Mr Khyam and one other also deny a charge under the Terrorism Act of possessing 600kg (1,300lb) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorism.

Mr Khyam and his brother Shujah Mahmood, 19, further deny possessing aluminium powder for terrorism.

The trial continues.