British Terror Suspect Identified Birmingham Airport As Possible Target
June 13, 2008 by national
Filed under World Report
A British Muslim accused of planning a transatlantic airline bomb plot told a court he carried out research on the internet to identify Birmingham International Airport as a possible target.
Assad Sarwar, 28, admitted purchasing and hiding materials to manufacture an explosive device designed to have the “hallmark of an al Qaida attack”.
But he insisted the plan, devised with co-defendant Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, was intended as a publicity stunt against foreign policy and did not seek to cause carnage.
Giving evidence in his defence at Woolwich Crown Court, Sarwar maintained the use of the volatile chemical hydrogen peroxide in the bottle device was to give the protest authenticity.
He told the court he travelled to Wales in April 2006 and used a false name to buy hydrogen peroxide from Health Leads UK.
Sarwar described how he conducted research on the internet into possible targets, including the Houses of Parliament and Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Birmingham airports.
During a trip to Pakistan between mid June and early July 2006 Sarwar met a contact who told him how to make highly-explosive chemical compound HMTD and he made a note of it.
He said he hid the hydrogen peroxide left in its packaging in King’s Wood, High Wycombe, but later could not find it.
Sarwar told the court by July 15, 2006, he and Ali were keen to progress their plan and continued to buy materials.
He made a second trip to Wales buying 10 litres of hydrogen peroxide at 35 per cent concentration. However, he discussed with Ali the difficulty of buying specialist equipment which usually supplied laboratories directly.
