Life Style Extra : Terror Suspect Bought Fertiliser For Pakistan

Terror Suspect Bought Fertiliser For Pakistan

September 25, 2006

A British terror suspect today admitted buying 600 kilos of fertiliser intended for Pakistan on the request of another suspect.

Anthony Garcia, 27, taking the witness stand for the first time, told the court he had bought more than half a tonne of the fertiliser after another terror suspect Omar Khyam, 24, asked him to.

And Garcia, who is of Algerian origin and came to the UK aged just five, also told the court he raised tens of thousands of pounds for the Kashmir struggle after he was shown alleged atrocities in the disputed territory.

Garcia, whose real name was Rahman Benouis until his family Anglicised the family name to Adam when he was aged 16, said he wanted to go to Pakistan to receive military training so he could be ready to fight.

But he denied he was a follower of the ousted Taliban regime or Osama bin Laden name claiming he did not agree with their aims and that the 9/11 attacks were wrong because innocent civilians were "targetted."

Earlier the Old Bailey was told the seven terror suspects planned to carry out a major bombing with a number of possible targets including a central London nightclub and Bluewater.

Today Garcia, who had changed his name again from Adams after returning from terror training camps in 2003 to escape bad debts and start a modelling career, was the second suspect to take the stand after Khyam refused to give further evidence.

Khyam refused to leave the dock after he claimed Pakistani intelligence, the ISI, had talked to his family and relatives in Pakistan and he feared for their safety.

Garcia, admitted that he had gone to an agricultural merchants in Burgess Hill, Sussex, and bought the fertiliser and then placed it is a storage depot in Slough.

His barrister Matthew Ryder asked Garcia: "Did you go to Bodle Brothers in 2003?"

Garcia, wearing a burgundy long sleeve shirt and black waistcoat, simply replied: "yes."

Mr Ryder continued: "Did you purchase 600 kg from Bodle Brothers?" to which he responded "yes."

When asked why, Garcia replied: "Because Khyam asked me to."

Mr Ryder said: "What did you think was going to happen to that fertiliser?"

Garcia replied: "It was to be shipped out to Pakistan."

He told the court that he placed it in storage and the next time he heard about it was when he was arrested in March 2004, when he was aged 24.

But Garcia told the court he became radicalised after he was shown a video of alleged rapes and sexual abuses of children by Indian forces in Kashmir at the Islamic Society at his college in Romford, east London in 1999.

Garcia then told how he and his elder brother would fund raise around their Barkingside home, collecting funds from students, shopkeepers, businessmen and Mosques, which became an "almost religious objective" and helped him turn his back on "girls, drinking and staying out late."

He added 99 per cent of the community would support their cause as people in "occupied Kashmir" had the right to defend themselves and he was desperate to get out to Pakistan to receive military training.

He told the court people who had receive training were seen as "kind of like heroes" when they returned back to the UK and it was "common" for people to travel to Pakistan to get training.

He said: "If there was a little war going on in Kashmir, they would say we need people and they would only accept those that had done training."

Mr Ryder asked: "In your opinion was it viewed as an extremist thing to do?"

Garcia replied: "No, not at all."

But he told the court people were more "respected" if the had done the training than if they just learnt the Qu'ran.

But despite being against the Iraqi invasion in 2003, he said: "I never liked Saddam Hussain, mainly because I believe he's one of the most evil person on earth. With regard to them catching Saddam Hussain, I was over the moon."

Describing his views of the Taliban, Garcia added. 2I think their beliefs are wrong. I just never like people, for example, they force women to completely cover up, men to have beards, not listen to music.

"I don't believe Islam is like that, you should not inflict Islam on others."

He also said Osama bin Laden's viewpoint was "Islamic" and added: " He is basically forcing other nations or people to agree with him and if not they will suffer."

Describing the 9/11 attacks, he said: "I thought it was a film,. We (Garcia and his brother) were completely, completely shocked man."

Asked: "In any way were you happy about 9/11?" Garcia responded: "No, no way. It was the fact that innocent people were targetted. They did not do anything."

And he said 9/11 was no different from the Madrid bombings or the July 7 London transport bombings.

Garcia, is one of seven British nationals accused of plotting to explode a half tonne fertiliser bomb targetting either shops, clubs, bars or London's landmarks.

The seven, the majority from Crawley in West Sussex, were arrested after American citizen Mohamed Babar pleaded guilty to two offences described by US officials as the "British Bomb Plot," it was alleged.

Garcia, Khyam, his younger brother Shujah-Ud-Din Mahmood, 18, Nabeel Hussain, 20, Jawad Akbar, 22, Waheed Mahmood, 33, and Salahuddin Amin, 30, are accused of conspiring to cause an explosion likely to endanger life contrary to section 3 (1)(a) of the Explosive Substances Act 1883.

Canadian Mohammed Khawaja also awaits trial for his part in the conspiracy in Ontario.

It is alleged the seven plotted between January 1, 2001 and March 31 2004 to set off a series of bombs against as yet unidentified targets in the UK.

Khyam, Garcia and Hussain are also charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 of possessing an article for terrorism - namely 600kg of ammonium nitrate fertiliser between November 5, 2003 and March 31, 2004.

Brothers Khyam and Mahmood also deny having aluminium powder - an ingredient in explosives - between the same dates.

Khyam, from Crawley but who also lived in Slough; Shujah-Ud-Din Mahmood, from Crawley; Garcia, from Ilford; Hussain from Horley, Surrey and also a student at Brunel University in Uxbridge; Akbar from Crawley and Uxbridge; Mahmood from Crawley; and Amin from Luton, Beds, all deny the charges.

The trial continues.

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