A man accused of leading a plot to blow up passenger planes has admitted planning to set off an explosive device at Heathrow Airport. Abdullah Ahmed Ali, 27, told Woolwich Crown Court he had initially wanted to target Parliament, but abandoned the idea because security was too tight. He said he was particularly interested in Heathrow Terminal 3 because it was used by several US airlines.
Mr Ali is one of eight men who deny conspiring to blow up planes in 2006 in the so called 'liquid bomb plot'. Prosecutors claim the defendants planned to make hydrogen peroxide bombs disguised as soft drinks using instructions from the internet to detonate in mid-air on at least seven transatlantic passenger planes flying out of Heathrow airport.
But Mr Ali told the court they had never planned to board a plane. He said the group had initially favoured targeting the House of Commons, but had decided 'we'd probably get shot', so had switched their focus to US airline offices at Heathrow.
He said they had intended to leave one or two devices in a bin or plant pot and time them to go off after 5 or 10 minutes to give them time to escape. He said: 'We were trying to create a disturbance, not kill anyone. We did not even think about boarding a plane. Our aim was to set off a device at a terminal, cause a disturbance then release our video.'
He said the device had had to appear real to get 'a lot of attention' - setting off something like a firework would not be taken seriously. He admitted he had researched flight times and destinations, but said that had been part of the plan to target Heathrow itself, investigating which terminals were used by US airlines and which periods were the busiest to cause 'maximum disruption'.
All eight defendants deny two joint charges of conspiring to murder and to endanger aircraft. The trial continues. |
