Posted on 02/28/2005 9:47:52 AM PST by knighthawk
LONDON (Reuters) - "Shoe bomber" Richard Reid had planned with an accomplice to bring down more than one aircraft at around the same time, a London court heard Monday.
Reid failed in his bid to blow up an American Airlines plane from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22, 2001 after passengers and crew overpowered him as he tried to ignite explosives in his shoe.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a U.S. court in January 2003.
At the Old Bailey Monday, his accomplice Saajid Badat, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use an explosive device identical to that of Reid.
"It is clear that the plan of Reid and Badat was to bring down passenger aircraft at similar times toward the end of December 2001," said British prosecutor Richard Horwell.
He said Badat had been given an explosive device in Afghanistan that had a detonating cord that matched Reid's.
But while Reid went ahead with his attempt, Badat had a change of heart.
The prosecution said an e-mail from Badat to his family on December 14 indicated he intended to withdraw from the plot.
Although Badat bought a ticket to fly from Manchester, in northern England, to Amsterdam on December 17, 2001 and then on to the U.S., he did not take the flight.
"We would accept that by then he had withdrawn from the conspiracy to which he had been a party for an appreciable period of time," said Horwell.
Badat, of Gloucester, southwest England, was arrested in November 2003. At his home, police found a bomb which Badat had made safe by separating the detonator and fuse from the plastic explosive, which had been designed to evade airport security.
He was remanded in custody until sentencing on March 18.
Ping
Thank you prayers.
Better late than never.
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