London Trans-Atlantic Bomb Plot

Summary: In August 2006 British police accused two dozen people of plotting to bomb trans-Atlantic aircraft by concocting liquid explosives while in flight. Eventually eight of those arrested were put on trial and seven were convicted, after two trials, of a variety of charges--but not of actually planning to carry out the alleged plot. One defendant was acquitted. The case aroused significant controversy, partly over criticism that police had moved in prematurely, before the plot had a chance to develop, either under political pressure from the Bush administration or because one of the alleged ringleaders had been arrested in Pakistan, raising the possibility that the other plotters might flee. The alleged plot was the original cause for barring airline passengers from carrying bottles of liquids aboard airliners.

Date: August 10, 2006.

Place: London.

Incident: On August 10, 2006, British authorities announced they had thwarted a plot to smuggle liquid explosives aboard nine trans-Atlantic airplanes owned by United, American and Continental airlines by arresting 24 people. Those arrested were all British-born, all thought to be Muslims, and most of them of Pakistani descent. Those arrested came from High Wycombe, a suburb of London, and from Birmingham; other arrests were made in Pakistan. Officials said the plot bore the hallmarks of a plan that might have been hatched by Al Qaeda, although no evidence of a tie to Al Qaeda was offered.

At the time officials said some likely participants were probably still at large. Britain and the United States both raised their terror threat assessments to their highest levels, leading to chaos at airports as tighter security checks were implemented. Passengers were banned from carrying any liquids aboard planes except for baby food and drugs. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said the plotters in Britain planned to use liquids, "each one of which would be benign, but mixed together could be used to create a bomb." [See Background Information Summary on Liquid Explosives in this database.]

American officials quoted anonymously in press reports said the plotters planned a "dry run" within a few days, and if that were successful, planned to launch their simultaneous attacks within a few days after that. Later it was revealed that the plotters had neither bought any airline tickets nor any ingredients for explosives and some did not have passports, raising doubts about whether the attacks had been imminent.

Known or presumed perpetrators: British police initially arrested 24 suspects, all described as British-born and some (but not all) of Pakistani descent. On August 21, 2006, 11 of the 24 suspects were formally charged in court--eight on conspiracy to commit murder charges and "preparing acts of terrorism." Three were charged with lesser offenses against counter-terrorism laws. On September 6, 2006, British authorities charged two more suspects in connection with the bomb plot. Police said investigators had found "martyrdom videos" and bomb-making materials in sites linked to the suspects. London's chief antiterrorist investor said police had searched "69 houses, flats and business premises, vehicles and open spaces" and seized 400 computers, 200 cell phones and 8,000 data storage devices (including memory sticks and DVDs). These details apparently were meant to counter growing skepticism that the alleged plot had been a genuine and imminent threat.

Eventually eight suspects were tried on conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to carry out a terrorist attack:

• Abdullah Ahmed Ali, 28, named as the ringleader. He was convicted in September 2009 after his second trial of conspiring to kill passengers and crew members aboard the flights. He was sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
• Assad Sarwar, 29, named as the �quartermaster� of the plot, responsible for obtaining explosives and other equipment and assembling them. Sarwar also was convicted at his second trial of conspiracy to kill passengers. He was sentenced to a minimum of 36 years in prison.
• Tanvir Hussain, 28, was also was convicted after two trials of conspiracy to kill passengers. He was sentenced to serve at least 32 years in prison.
• Donald Stewart-Whyte, 23, was acquitted in September 2009.
• Adam Khatib, 22, was convicted in December 2009 after his second trial of conspiracy to commit murder.
• Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 39, was convicted in December 2009 after his second trial of possessing materials that could be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.
• Nabeel Hussain, 25, was convicted in December 2009 at his second trial of preparing for terrorism and for possessing items that could be used for terrorism.
• Mohammad Gulzar, 26, the eighth defendant, was acquitted of all charges at his first trial that ended in September 2008.

British officials identified named the alleged ringleader of the plot as Rashid Rauf, a Briton of Pakistani descent who was arrested in Pakistan, but later escaped custody in December 2007. News reports quoted anonymous U.S. authorities as saying several of the British-based suspects had recently traveled to Pakistan, and that Rauf might have had contact with Al Qaeda, although no concrete evidence of this was presented. Investigators cited voluminous telephone contact between Rauf and several suspects, and information from a British agent who infiltrated the group. Rauf's father, Abdul, owner of a bakery in Birmingham, England, was also reportedly being questioned in Pakistan, where he had traveled in order to attend a wedding. The elder Rauf is the founder of a Birmingham-based charity, Crescent Relief, which is under investigation by British banking regulators for possibly channeling funds to terrorist groups. Rauf's younger brother, Tayib, who was among those arrested on August 10, 2006, was released without charge on the day after the hearing.

FBI Director Robert Mueller said the alleged plot had "all the earmarks of an Al Qaeda plot." The alleged plan seemed similar to one hatched by Al Qaeda in 1995 intended to bring down flights bound for the United States from Asia. In that case, explosives caught fire in a Manila apartment before the plan could be executed.

Impact: he arrests in Britain immediately caused chaos at airports in the United Kingdom and the United States when both governments raised their terrorism alert levels and implemented stricter passenger inspections. The alerts were scaled back a few days later.

News that information about the alleged plot had come from Pakistan following interrogation there of at least one prime suspect soon raised questions about how imminent the alleged plot in London had been, and to suggestions of political manipulation. The arrests coincided with the start of U.S. mid-term congressional elections. NBC News reported that American officials had insisted on arresting the suspects immediately, rather than going along with British wishes to maintain surveillance for a while longer. News reports said President George W. Bush talked about the plot with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was on a Caribbean vacation and did not return to London because of the plot. As if to underscore the role of the London events on domestic politics, President Bush visited a communications center for anti-terrorism on August 15, 2006, where he declared that the London incident proved that terrorism remained a serious threat.

The failure of British authorities to charge the suspects immediately after their arrests (British law allows suspects to be held without charge for up to 28 days) also fed criticism that the arrests had been premature and to suggestions that the plot was a case of loose talk not accompanied by concrete actions, such as buying ingredients for bombs and airline tickets, or even acquiring passports.

History/Background

The initial arrests in August 2006 followed a foiled effort by British citizen Richard Reid in December 2001 to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes while flying across the Atlantic to the United States and a year after terrorists planted bombs on London subways and on a bus, killing 56 and injuring about 700 on July 7, 2005.

The alleged London plot was also reminiscent of a foiled 1995 plot traced to Ramzi Yousef (responsible for the 1991 bombing of the World Trade Center) and his uncle, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (believed to be the mastermind behind the 9/11/2001 Al Qaeda attacks). In the 1995 case the explosives intended for use on the planes caught fire in a Manila apartment before the plan could be executed. The Manila case seemed especially relevant to the alleged London plot since police there found storage containers with a variety of chemicals, two large bottles of nitroglycerine, electronic fuses and timers, and an Arabic text describing the fabrication of liquid explosives, as well as Yousef's laptop computer that contained details of flights and calculations of bomb detonation times.

Bibliography

Alter, Jonathan, et Al �Plugging Holes in the Skies,� Newsweek 148:8/9 (August 28, 2006) p. 50. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=21983186&site=ehost-live

Anderson, John Ward and Karen DeYoung. �Plot to Bomb U.S.-Bound Jets Is Foiled.� Washington Post August 11, 2006. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=WPT000839182406&site=ehost-live

Armstrong, David. �Airlines take another hit. Bomb in Britain comes as U.S. carriers were starting to recover from years of losses.� San Francisco Chronicle. August 11, 2006. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=9YQ0495911967&site=ehost-live

Thomas, Evan, et Al �The New Age of Terror,� Newsweek 148:8/9 (August 28, 2006) p. 38. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tsh&AN=21983175&site=ehost-live