Fertiliser terror trial jury retires

The jury in the case of seven men accused of plotting bomb attacks in the South East has retired to consider its verdict.

The year-long trial at the Old Bailey has heard that the gang, some believed to have links to al-Qaeda, planned to use 600 kg (1,300 lb) of ammonium nitrate fertiliser to make explosives for use in the bombings.

Prosecutors said the men were deciding on a target when they were arrested in 2004 before carrying out what would have been the first homegrown attack by Islamist militants.

The prosecution said the men had discussed targets including the Ministry of Sound in London and Bluewater in Kent, along with gas, water and electricity supplies, synagogues and trains.

Police swooped on the suspects about 16 months before four British Islamists carried out suicide bombings on London's transport system in July 2005, killing 52 commuters.

The suspects, Omar Khyam, his brother Shujah Mahmood, Waheed Mahmood, Anthony Garcia, Jawar Akbar and Salahuddin Amin deny conspiring with Canadian Mohammed Momin Khawaja to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.

Garcia, Khyam and Hussain are also charged with possessing an article for terrorism - the fertiliser. Khyam and Mahmood are also accused of having aluminium powder - an ingredient in explosives. They deny all charges.

The main prosecution witness in the case was Mohammed Babar, a Pakistan-born American who has admitted to terrorism-related offences in New York.

He said he was the men's accomplice and had helped acquire materials for the detonators.

The prosecution said the fertiliser had been kept in a storage facility in west London and police were alerted when staff became suspicious.

An undercover female police officer was placed as a receptionist to monitor the men's actions while detectives secretly swapped the fertiliser with an inert substance so it could not be used to make a bomb.

Khyam, the plot's suspected ringleader, admitted in court to being "happy" when the September 11 US attacks took place and to training in Pakistan, but he said he was not involved in planning attacks in Britain and had wanted to "free Kashmir".

The other defendants said they had no idea what the fertiliser was for, or stated they believed it would only be used in the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.

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