NineMSN (Australia) : Accused terrorists used porn magazines to deter security

Accused terrorists used porn magazines to deter security

By ninemsn staff with wires | April 5, 2008

Eight men accused of plotting to blow up seven passenger planes mid-air planned to keep porn magazines and condoms in their luggage to dupe airport security into thinking they weren't Muslim zealots, a British court heard.

A "blueprint" for terror, found in a diary of an alleged ringleader for the failed plot, described how everyday items might convince security officers the participants in the plot were not Islamic extremists.

Anti-terror police reportedly found the instructions for mass murder in the diary of one of the three accused ringleaders — Abdulla Ahmed Ali.

"Prepare dirty mag to distract, condom," one of the entries read.

The jury heard the men planned to use liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks and connected to detonators to simultaneously blow up aircraft heading from Britain to Canada and the United States.

The attack would have involved up to 18 suicide bombers and killed an estimated 2000 people, London's Woolwich Crown Court heard.

Ali's diary also suggested disguising hydrogen peroxide with food dye to make it look like energy drink Lucozade.

The jury were shown a video clip of 500ml of a hydrogen peroxide bomb in a bottle being blown up, damaging most of the room where the experiment was conducted.

Hydrogen peroxide — which can be used as an explosive — was found in the garage of another of the accused gang members, Assad Sarwar, while the materials to make a detonator were discovered in a suitcase of his buried in woodland near his home, the court heard.

Prosecutor Peter Wright said suicide videos were also discovered stored in a camera in Sarwar's car and on a cassette tape in the garage of his home.

In all the videos, the men sat dressed in black in front of a black flag with Arabic writing in white.

The eight British citizens on trial are Abdullah Ahmad Ali, 27, Assad Sarwar, 27, Tanvir Hussain, 27, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, Ibrahim Savant, 27, Arafat Khan, 26, Waheed Zaman, 23, and Umar Islam, 29.

All have been charged with conspiracy to murder. They deny the charges.

The prosecution said the men were close to putting their scheme into action when they were arrested in August 2006.

That arrest prompted a massive security response at global airports and a limit on liquids carried on board aircraft.