Life for airliner bomb plot leader
Airliner bomb plot ringleader Abdulla Ahmed Ali has been jailed for life with a minimum of 40 years for planning what was described as an atrocity comparable with the September 11 attacks.
British-born extremist Ali, the leader of an al Qaida-inspired terror cell, planned to detonate home-made liquid bombs on board flights bound for major North American cities, Woolwich Crown Court heard.
Ali, of Walthamstow, east London, was found guilty along with Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain of conspiracy to murder on a mass scale by detonating bombs on airliners following the largest-ever counter-terrorism operation in the UK.
Trial judge Mr Justice Henriques said the gang was planning a "grave" terrorist atrocity which would have been comparable to the September 11 attacks. He said they would have succeeded without the intervention of the police and security services.
Mr Justice Henriques said the trio were convicted of "the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within this jurisdiction". He said: "The intention was to perpetrate a terrorist outrage that would stand alongside the events of September 11, 2001 in history."
The judge added that the airline bomb plot had "reached an advanced stage in its development". He said the men had "sufficient chemicals for 20 home-made detonators of commercial strength". "I'm satisfied that there is every likelihood that this plot would have succeeded but for the intervention of the police and the security service," he said.
Mr Justice Henriques told Ali: "I have concluded you are a driven and determined extremist with boundless energy and an ambition to lead a terrorist outrage of boundless proportion.
"By this conspiracy you sought the attention of the world, and you now have it."
The judge went on: "Not only did you recruit, but you also obtained much of the bomb-making equipment."
He said Ali was "producer, director, cameraman, part-author and actor in the six martyrdom tapes" which warned the British public to expect "floods of martyr operations" that would leave body parts scattered in the streets.
