UNITED KINGDOM: Eight airline plot suspects appear by videolink before judge as investigation continues into alleged terrorist recruitment

Record ID: 351917

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Eight airline plot suspects appear by videolink before judge as investigation continues into alleged terrorist recruitment
  • Date: 4th September 2006
  • Summary: (W3) FILE (LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 11, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT BRITISH AIRWAYS PLANE LANDING AT HEATHROW AIRPORT DEPARTURES TERMINAL, PEOPLE OUTSIDE MAN PLACING HAND LUGGAGE ITEMS IN CLEAR PLASTIC BAG BECAUSE OF TIGHTENED SECURITY POLICEMAN WALKING THROUGH CROWD AIRPORT WORKER MAKING ANNOUNCEMENT ON MEGAPHONE INSIDE TERMINAL, VARIOUS OF TV SCREENS WITH FLIGHT
  • Embargoed: 19th September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVADM3V18PRNDV0RMUO3YR5C1A87
  • Story Text: Eight men were remanded in custody in London on Monday (September 4, 2006) after appearing at the Central Criminal Court on a prison videolink in connection with an alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners.
    The men, aged between 19 and 28, appeared on screen before Mrs Justice Rafferty charged with conspiracy to murder and preparing an act of terrorism.
    Tanvir Hussain, 25, of no fixed address; Umar Islam, 28, of east London; Arafat Waheed Khan, 25, from Walthamstow, east London; Ahmed Abdullah Ali, also 25, from Walthamstow; Ibrahim Savant, 25, from north London; Waheed Zaman, 22, from Walthamstow; Assad Ali Sarwar, 26, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire; and 19-year-old Adam Khatib, from Walthamstow were all remanded in custody for two weeks.
    The eight defendants sat, arms folded, in lines, watching the proceedings through two screens from Belmarsh Prison.
    Each spoke only to identify himself as the 28-minute hearing got under way.
    The case is not expected to reach trial until early 2008.
    The eight who appeared at the 'Old Bailey' were among 24 people arrested as part of an operation launched on the night of August 9. Of these, 14 have been charged over the alleged plot.
    Four people have so far been released without charge; a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is facing a separate terrorism charge which does not relate to the alleged conspiracy and five others are still being questioned by police about the alleged plot.
    The judge agreed to adjourn today's case for two weeks after hearing that three other defendants are due to appear at the Old Bailey facing the same charges on September 18.
    There were no applications for bail from the eight men's barristers.
    British police investigating an alleged network of terrorist recruiters were on Monday (September 4) continuing to question 14 men, including a former associate of the radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza, who was jailed in February for seven years on race hate and terror charges. .
    The former aide, Abu Abdullah, is understood to have been among those arrested during overnight raids on Friday in south and east London, including one at a Chinese restaurant.
    On Sunday night, detectives were given more time to question the men, aged from 17 to 48, who were detained after months of surveillance by police and the domestic security service, MI5.
    They are being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The arrests are not linked to the recent alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners or to last year's July 7 suicide bombings in London which killed 52 people, police said.
    A total of 17 searches at residential properties across London continued on Monday. Security sources said the probe was concentrating on the alleged recruitment and radicalisation of young British Muslims and the facilitation of training for terrorism purposes. It is not yet clear whether the men were part of one group.
    The investigation is also focussed on an Islamic school in East Sussex. Media reports said jailed cleric Abu Hamza stayed at the school for a short period, but was asked to leave after staff became concerned about his strange behaviour.
    His former aide Abu Abdullah was arrested days after The Sunday Times newspaper published an interview with him in which he described how he would love to kill British soldiers in Afghanistan.
    In the interview, he also described last year's July 7 London suicide bombers as "my honourable brothers in Islam" and said the attacks were "a wake-up call".
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