Adam Khatib, 23, was sentenced to at least 18 years over the 2006 plot to bring down at least seven transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives hidden in soft drinks bottles.Its discovery led to strict new rules about carrying liquids on commercial flights.
Khatib was convicted Wednesday of conspiracy to murder by plotting with ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali in the run-up to the attempted plot, after a trial at the high security Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.
Nabeel Hussain, 25, was found guilty of preparing for terrorism, while Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 39, was convicted of possessing a CD likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.
Hussain was jailed for eight years, while Uddin was sentenced to 15 months.
"Adam Khatib may not have known the full extent of the plan being hatched by his co-conspirators, but he certainly knew that they had murder in mind," said John McDowall, head of police Counter Terrorism Command.
"He was a footsoldier to Abdulla Ahmed Ali and was actively involved in a conspiracy to attack innocent members of the public.
"Nabeel Hussain assisted Ali and his cohorts in preparing for acts of terrorism. Both men are committed terrorists who met Ali when he was furthering his plans to blow up transatlantic aircraft.
"Hussain even contemplated losing his life in an act of martyrdom and had made a will expressing a willingness to die a violent death."
The counter-terrorism operation to prevent the plot was the biggest ever in Britain.
The plan was to smuggle explosives made of hydrogen peroxide onto the planes in soft drink bottles. Refilled batteries would carry the chemical detonator, with the bombs set off using a charge from a light bulb filament.
They would have been assembled and detonated in mid-air by a team of suicide bombers, causing untold damage.
AFP, 10 December 2009
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