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June 19, 2006

Australia: Muslim Guilty Of Plotting Terror Attack

Pakistani-born architect Faheem Khalid Lodhi (pictured), a resident of Punchbowl, Sydney, has today been found guilty of plotting terror attacks in Australia, state the BBC, AKI, the Times, Reuters via , and Associated Press via CNN.

The 36-year old was convicted on three charges, of gathering maps of Sydney's power grid, acting in preparation for a terrorist act by gathering information about bomb-makingchemicals and and possessing documents with information about how to manufacture poisons.

He had written a terror manual in his native language, Urdu, which contained instructions for making home-made bombs and poisons, using information gained from the internet.

The court heard that he had planned to attack venues in Sydney in October 2003. He also had in his possession DVDs of violent jihad and terror training.

Lodfhi's trial has been a long time in coming to final conviction. He was first identified as a suspect on October 11, 2003, when his boss reported to the police that a "suspicious fax" had been sent from a company quoting prices for 10 chemicals, which included ingredients for bomb-making.

On October 12, 2003, his office was raided, and the 15 manual in Urdu was found. It detailed how to make petrol bombs, poison, cyanide gas, sulphuric acid, grenades and other explosive devices.

His home was raided the same day, and on a computer disk were 600 files connected to Islamic extremism, and four training manuals obtained from the US military.

Lodhi was linked by police to Willy Brigitte, who was deported from Australia in 2003 on suspicion of having links to Al Qaeda. Brigitte, a French national, was also thought to have planned an attack upon Sydney. French intelligence had been tracking Brigitte since 1999, when he had attended a madrassa in Pakistan.

Lodhi had used a false name to open a mobile phone account, and had used this to contact Brigitte. Lodhi and Brigitte are alleged to have trained with the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba. This group, which uses terror to pressure Indian Kashmir to secede, is designated as a terrorist entity by the US State Department and is also banned in Australia.

Shortly before his arrest, Lodhi had been filmed throwing into a dustbin an envelope. This contained 38 aerial shots of military bases downloaded from the internet. The jury found him not guilty of downloading these images in preparation of a terror act.

Lodhi, a devout Sunni Muslim, was found guilty at New South Wales Supreme Court. A jury of six men and six women spent five days assessing evidence before bringing in their verdict today. He has been remanded in custody until June 29, when he will hear the Judge Anthony Whealy's sentence. He is expected to receive life imprisonment.

Lodhi had migrated to Australia in 1998, to "do something better for my life" and had argued that killing innocent people was against Islam. He said that the requests for chemicals came because he had considered starting up a business exporting and manufacturing chemicals.

He said to the court: "This country is my country. These people are my people."

Keywords: Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-i-Toiba, Lashkar-e-Tayba

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 19, 2006 7:57 AM

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