London bus bombing
Photo: Reuters
London underground
Photo: AP
Dhiren Barot
Photo: AP
Planned 'dirty bomb' in London tube
British al-Qaeda member admits planning mass-terror attacks in London, Washington, and New York
A British terrorist affiliated with al-Qaeda planned to murder thousands of people in a series of attacks in Britain and the United States, a London court revealed Monday.
Dhiren Barot pleaded last month to conspiracy to commit murder. Monday, prior to the final verdict, the prosecution enumerated the intended crimes of the 34 year old, who converted to Islam over a decade ago and became increasingly extreme.
Barot planned to set off a 'dirty bomb' – explosives containing radioactive material – in the London underground, with the hope that the explosion would cause the Thames to flood the underground stations.
He also planned to pack gas cylinders in limousines and set them off in various underground parking lots in Britain. According to the prosecution, Barot flew to Pakistan in 2004 to prevent the limousine plan to senior terror operatives.
Wide-ranging plans
During a raid in the town of Gujrat in July 2004, Pakistani authorities uncovered extensive information on hotels and train lines in London, although it was unclear whether these were to be the targets of the attacks.The detailed plans were found on a laptop seized by Pakistan later that year, which indicated that Barot, while in the US in 2000 and 2001, had planned suicide attacks on financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, even prior to the September 11th attacks.
He intended to target the International Monetary Fund buildings, the International Bank in Washington, the New York stock exchange and the Prudential and Citigroup buildings.
Barot, who was captured in a joint effort by Pakistani, American and British intelligence forces, is believed to have wanted to emulate the 2004 terror attacks in Madrid.
Defense attorneys told jurors to consider that the defendant had no experience building explosive devices and that no explosives were found in his possession.
