Dhiren Barot was arrested
in August 2004 in London
Posted on 11/06/2006 12:53:47 PM PST by GMMAC
'Gas Limos' terrorist faces sentencing
By Matthew Moore
telegraph.co.uk
November 6, 2006
A British Muslim plotted to cause "massive explosions" in Britain and the United States designed to kill thousands of people, a court heard today.
Dhiren Barot, a 34-year-old convert from north London, led a conspiracy to commit mass murder and was intent on causing, in his own words, "another black day for the enemies of Islam".
Dhiren Barot was arrested
in August 2004 in London
His plots included using radioactive dirty bombs, a petrol tanker, and a co-ordinated bomb attack using limosines packed with gas cylinders.
He also planned to flood London's Underground network by blowing up a Tube train under the Thames, predicting that if he could "rupture the river itself", this "would cause pandemonium, what with the explosions, flooding, drowning etc that would occur".
Addressing a two-day sentencing hearing at London's Woolwich Crown Court today, Edmund Lawson QC, for the Crown, said that Barot was a member or close associate of al-Qa'eda, and hoped to emulate the Madrid bombings.
A court sketch of Dhiren
Barot at a previous hearing
Barot, who described the Spanish blasts as "the definitive accident" and a "respectable project", pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder at a court hearing last month. Mr Lawson today described him as a senior and professional operator who had received extensive terrorism training since his first visit to Pakistan in 1995.
Central to his plans was the plot to blow up cars packed with gas cylinders, dubbed the "gas limos project".
In planning this attack he drew on blueprints he had made before Sept 11 2001 to bomb buildings in the US, including targets in Washington, New York and Newark, the court was told.
His specific targets were the International Monetary Fund and World Bank buildings in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup buildings in New York, and the Prudential building in Newark.
Mr Lawson today told the court that Barot visited Pakistan in early 2004, almost certainly to present his gas cylinder plan to his al-Qa'eda bosses for approval and funding.
"The principal attack involved packing three limousines with gas cylinders, explosives, shrapnel and the like and then detonating the devices in underground car parks," he said.
He added that a document outlining the "gas limos project" was found following a raid by the Pakistani authorities in Gujarat, Pakistan, in July 2004.
Barot was arrested in London in August 2004 following a decision by police that he was "simply too dangerous to leave" on the streets, the court heard.
Quietly spoken and smartly dressed, Barot is not the usual image of a terrorist. He was born a Hindu and brought up in a north London suburb by middle-class parents.
Family friends have told The Daily Telegraph how Barot's father, a banker from Nairobi, fled the worsening situation for Asians in Kenya in 1973, when Dhiren was two.
Manu Barot and his wife Bhartia arrived in Britain with Dhiren and his older sister and moved into a neat 1930s semi-detached home in a cul-de-sac in Kingsbury, London.
While Manu had been a successful professional in Kenya, in Britain his qualifications were worthless and he was forced to turn to factory work while his wife worked in a Sainsbury's supermarket.
Dhiren and his sister, three years his senior, attended a successful local high school and worked hard. She went on to university and became a teacher. Dhiren was less academic but was known for his interest in fashion and music.
He planned to become a travel agent after leaving school and to work in hotel management and travel the world. In fact, he became increasingly interested in Islam and converted when he was 20, prompting a rift with his father, who by then was suffering from a heart condition.
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PING!
Uh...physics are apparently not an Arab strong-suit...
GAY
Limousine Terror?
Fears of automotive mayhem as the Presidential inauguration nears
Posted Sunday, Jan. 16, 2005
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1018032,00.html
Nice find.
The poor dear. If he was better off in Kenya, why not live there ?
Damn straight!
They hate the West. Why are they here ?
To strike at the heart of the enemy, attain fame on Earth and ensure eternal bliss in the afterlife.
Jeez, this guy could be making big bucks posing as Jimmy Smits double.
Having a stunt double who seemed to 'almost have a death wish' any time he was required to work around explosives would likely come exceptionally handy !!!
I don't have much but I would gladly give any one of them a one way ticket to the dictatorship of their choice. Gladly.
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