Terror Bomber Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
Jim Kouri, CPP
January 14, 2010
Adam Khatib was convicted following the earlier trial and conviction of the other plotters He had been arrested at his home on August 9, 2006, where searches found evidence of his involvement in terrorist planning.
Sentencing Khatib to life with a minimum of eighteen years' imprisonment, Mr. Justice Calvert-Smith told him that the gravity of his offense was "extreme" and said: "The plot to murder passengers and crew on seven airliners was the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within this jurisdiction. There was every likelihood that this plot would have succeeded without the intervention of the police and security services."
Khatib was one of four men who plotted to blow up planes in mid-flight from the United Kingdom to America and Canada. The terrorists were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.
The three avowed jihadists planned to smuggle liquid explosives disguised as fizzy drinks through airport security undetected, before detonating their bombs in the air.
Abdullah Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain were found guilty by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder by detonating improvised explosive devices on board transatlantic passenger aircraft.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, head of the Counter Terrorism Command and Senior National Co-ordinator Counter Terrorism, said, "If these terrorists had been successful, many people would have lost their lives. Many more would have died if they had chosen to detonate their bombs over land.
"They intended to cause carnage through a series of co-ordinated and deadly explosions and bring terror into the lives of people around the globe. Apart from massive loss of life, these attacks would have had enormous world-wide economic and political consequences," he said.
Britain's Metropolitan Police operation -- code named Operation Overt -- was one of the biggest investigations in the history of the department. It incorporated the largest ever surveillance operation, which included teams from all over the country.
Ali and Hussain used a ´bomb factory´ to plan and manufacture elements of their Improvised Explosive Devices.
They were arrested overnight on the 9th/10th August 2006 in a joint pre-planned intelligence led operation by the Metropolitan Police and the MI5 Security Service.
Read Scotland Yard, MI5, NACOP report:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2010m1d9-Terror-bomber-sentenced-to-life-imprisonment-for-Transatlantic-airliner-plot
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