Posted on 11/06/2006 8:07:41 PM PST by Stoat
Barot suggested as possible targets the Heathrow Express or an explosion on a Tube train whilst in a tunnel under the Thames one of the Greenwich crossings.
Barots premature gloating was on one of the documents recovered after his arrest in August 2004.
He also planned blasts against targets in New York City, Washington DC and New Jersey.
Mr Lawson said: The criminal plot was to carry out massive explosions here and in the US.
The principal object was to kill hundreds if not thousands of innocent people without warning.
There were subsidiary objectives to destroy, damage property, injure and terrorise people including by the use and threat of radiation dirty bombs.
The court heard Barot, from North West London, carried out scouting missions to the US in August 2000 and March 2001 with fellow conspirators.
They filmed footage of the city and hid it on the end of a video of Diehard With A Vengeance starring Bruce Willis.
It showed buildings in Broad Street, Wall Street and also the New York Stock Exchange. The footage focused on entrances, security cameras and barriers.
Barot has already admitted plotting attacks using limos packed with gas cylinders which were to be driven into underground car parks and detonated.
Target ... terrorist planned atrocity on the Heathrow Express |
Individual targets identified were the International Monetary Fund and World Bank headquarters in Washington, the Citigroup building in New York and the Prudential building in Newark, New Jersey.
The conspiracy was developed between 2000 and 2004 and only thwarted by Barots arrest in a meticulous police operation, said Mr Lawson.
He added: The US bombings were planned initially in 2000 and 2001 before 9/11.
It seems likely they were shelved by reason of the terrorists success in relation to 9/11 shelved but not forgotten.
The plans were accessed or worked on as late as February 2004. And they were obviously used in conceiving the UK murder plans.
Arson, by means of hijacked petrol tankers, was also discussed as was attack by the use of aeroplane.
The results of Barots recce was later shown to his Al-Qaeda bosses in Pakistan in March 2004, the court heard. Mr Lawson said the gas limo project would also have seen a series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks in this country.
He added: Barot travelled to Pakistan and the obvious inference is that the purpose of the trip was to present plans for approval and funding. Chillingly the plans had been costed as if they were business plans.
The principal attack involves packing three limousines, with gas cylinders, explosives and shrapnel and then detonating the devices in car parks under buildings.
A document on a computer hard-drive contained details of some of Londons top hotels and mainline stations which were potential targets.
It also listed websites for top hotels including the Berkeley, the Savoy, the Hyatt Carlton Tower, the Marriott in Marble Arch and the Intercontinental.
Video ... footage of scouting missions in New York hidden at end of film |
Details included such as locations of their car parks and other access points. Referring to the Savoy, the document said: Rear easy and enclosed but diverted except for laundry room.
The document also contained details of a parking arrangement at three of Londons biggest mainline stations Waterloo, Paddington and Kings Cross.
The judge, Mr Justice Butterfield, said the notes appeared to be observations about where they might deploy some sort of explosive device.
Mr Lawson said Barot recruited seven fellow plotters in Britain and used the UK as a base. In a letter, he described a sleeper cell working around the clock.
Mr Lawson added: The care he used in meetings, the use of coded messages and the anti-surveillance tactics lends further support to his role as an organiser of major terrorist activity designed to strike at the heart of America and the United Kingdom.
The QC said Barot flitted between addresses and between February 1998 and February 2003 used EIGHT different passports.
Some were reported stolen and replaced while others were obtained in false names. Barot also used five aliases Pevin Dhillon, Haris Feroze, Esa al-Hindi, Amerdeer Manku and Keiron Da Chuna.
With these he set up a complicated network of fake bank accounts, non-existent payslips, mailbox drops, library cards and vehicle transfers.
Barot made phone calls at public booths and used three untraceable web-based email accounts in the names kewlnkinki@Yahoo, bridget_jones_diaries@Yahoo and nightwithkylie@Yahoo.
Communication was in teenage language with sexual references to put anyone prying off the scent of a Muslim plot.
Police recovered two notebooks from the garage of one of the plotters that spelled-out Barots deadly intentions in his own handwriting.
Scores of pages referred to weapons including Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns and grenades.
There were also references to firebombs, napalm, phosphorous bombs, cyanide gas and ricin. He also detailed botulinum - the most toxic substance known to man, said Mr Lawson.
Barot, who sat impassively in the dock, admitted conspiracy to murder at an earlier hearing. He is due to be sentenced today.
Stay on guard |
|
EVERY month without a new 7/7 terror strike lulls us into dangerous false security.
Memories have faded so fast that some would rather condemn police for overkill than praise them for trying to protect us. So the trial of terror plotter Dhiren Barot is a timely wake-up call. Barot admits planning bombs big enough to puncture the River Thames and flood the capitals Tube network. His targets included mainline stations and top hotels. And he aimed to paralyse London and New York with simultaneous nuclear dirty bombs. Barot cant be dismissed as a harmless fantasist. He was trained to kill by al-Qaeda. His signed plans were found in Pakistan. Barots confession saves us a long and costly trial. But security chiefs warn there are hundreds more where he came from and thousands willing to offer support. It is only a matter of time before some succeed. We cannot afford to drop our guard for an instant. |
Hopefully our British Friends won't allow an OJ style court fiasco to ensue over this monster's deliberations. It's essential that his case is used to set a very firm example for others who plan similar, horrific events.
Al-Qaida operative arrives in court
AP ^ | 11/6/06 | DAVID STRINGER
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1733288/posts
Posted on 11/06/2006 10:54:04 AM CST by Valin
LONDON - One of the top al-Qaida operatives known to have been captured in Britain appeared in court amid heavy security Monday for sentencing in a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange , the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington and to use a dirty bomb in London.
Flanked by two guards, Barot sat expressionless behind a glass wall as the proceedings began. Born in India but raised in Britain, he pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to commit mass murder in terrorist plots on both sides of the Atlantic. He faces a life sentence.
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Thank you very much for the update!
Hopefully the Brits will put him away for a very, very long time.
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