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September 25, 2006

UK: Muslim Tells Court Explosive Fertilizer Was Bound For Pakistan

Today, a court at the Old Bailey heard evidence from one of the seven people accused of plotting a major terror attacks in Britain. The accused, Anthony Garcia, had been arrested on March 30, 2004, after a large quantity of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, an ingredient of bomb-making was discovered in a storage unit at Hanwell in west London.

The day before the seven were arrested, an associate was arrested in Canada. Mohammad Momin Khawaja was a Canadian of Pakistani parents, who had visited London a month or so before the arrests. It is alleged that he was to supply detonators, for use with the ammonium nitrate, to create bombs. The prosecution in the ongoing trial, which began on March 21 this year, has said that the seven planned to bomb various targets. They considered bombing the Bluewater shopping mall, the Ministry of Sound nightclub, and other potential targets. One of the suspects worked for the National Grid Transco, which is responsible for the electricity power network, and also much of the national gas supply, and it is alleged that the group intended to sabotage these utilities.

Another allegation is that there were plans to distribute poisoned hamburgers outside soccer stadiums at the time of matches.

We last reported on this trial on September 18 when Omar Khyam, who is said to have been the leader of the group, was undergoing questioning. Earlier, Khyam had spoken of his upbringing in Crawley in West Sussex, and trips he had made to Pakistan to a terror training camp, and a border crossing into Afghanistan, where he had met members of the Taliban. Khyam had said he wanted to avenge the injustices suffered by Muslims.

Police surveillance footage had been shown to the court on June 23, where Khyam is seen visiting the container of fertiliser, at the storage depot in Hanwell. When the footage was taken, police had replaced the fertilizer with a less volatile substance. 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds) of the fertiliser had been kept in the storage facility. Ammonium nitrate was used in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1995, killing 168 people.

Khyam had been asked about the discovery of ten sachets of aluminium powder, which had been found near a garden shed in a biscuit tin, next to the garden shed. He said he had brought the powder from Pakistan at the request of his uncle, who wanted it for decorating purposes. Khyam is charged with possession of the aluminium powder as a component of bomb manufacture.

When he was asked about the fertiliser, Khyam then made the bizarre claim that: "Before we go on to that topic, I just want to say the ISI [Pakistani secret services] in Pakistan has had words with my family relating to what I have been saying about them. I think they are worried I might reveal more about them, so right now, as much as I want to clarify matters, the priority for me has to be the safety of my family so I am going to stop. I am not going to discuss anything related to the ISI any more or the evidence."

The case was consequently adjourned, and since then, Khyam has not testified to the court.

Today, it was the turn of 27-year old Anthony Garcia (pictured below) to take to the stand. His testimony is described by the BBC, Lifestyle Extra and the Sun.

Garcia was born Rahman Benouis in Algeria, and came to Britain when he was five years old. His family had changed their name to Adam when he was 16. He told the court that he was a fan of basketball and rap music, and had been compared to the comic character Ali G when he was a teenager. He claimed that he began to garner respect when he began to raise funds for Muslims in Kashmir.

He said that he had also wanted to be a model, and that shortly before his arrest in 2004 he had changed his name from Rahman Adam to Anthony Garcia. By this time, he had already been to terror training camps in 2003. He had done this to escape his debts and to begin his career as a model.

He claimed his family had not been religious, and that he only became interested in Islam when he was fundraising for Muslims in his late teens.

He was at the witness stand for the first time today. He spoke of the fertiliser which had been found. He admitted that he had purchased the substance from a company, Bodle Brothers in Burgess Hill in Sussex in 2003, amd that he had transported it to the storage depot in West London.

On July 13 the court heard that a search of the Crawley home of Jawad Akbar, another suspect, a bank statement from Omar Khyam was found, upon which the telephone number of Bodle Brothers was written.

When asked by his barrister Matthew Ryder why he had purchased the ammonium nitrate, Garcia said: "Because Khyam asked me to."

Ryder asked: "What did you think was going to happen to that fertiliser?"
Garcia responded: "It was to be shipped to Pakistan."

Garcia claimed that he had heard nothing more of the ammonium nitrate until March 2004, the time he was arrested. He claimed that he had become "radicalised" in 1999, while he was at college in Romford, East London. There he had been shown a video which featured rapes and sexual abuse of children which he claimed was performed by Indian military in Kashmir. The video had been shown at the college by the Islamic Society.

He said he would raise funds with his elder brother near their home in Barkingside. The raising of funds became an "almost religious objective", and helped him avoid from pursuing "girls, drinking, and staying out late."

On his trip to Pakistan to gain "military" training, Garcia said that people who went were treated as "kind of like heroes" upon their return. He said it was "common" for people to go to Pakistan to such camps.

Garcia said: "If there was a little war going on in Kashmir, they would say we need people and they would only accept those that had done training."

Matthew Ryder asked: "In your opinion was it viewed as an extremist thing to do?" and to this, Garcia replied: "No, not at all."

Garcia had taken out a loan of nearly £8,500 ($16,150) to finance his trip to Pakistan, and told his associates that he was going to a friend's wedding.

Speaking of Khyam, he said that at the time he called him a "psycho" as he thought Khyam to be "very strange", saying that "He laughs like a nutter."

He was asked about his opinions of 9/11. He said: "I thought it was a film." He claimed that he and his elder brother were "completely, completely shocked, man."

Garcia was asked: "In any way were you happy about 9/11?" He answered: "No, no way. It was the fact that innocent people were targetted. They did not do anything." He said that 9/11 was no different from the Madrid bombings of March 2004, or the bombings of 7/7 on London transport.

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The picture below shows six of the seven defendants, apart from Nabeel Hussain.

All the defendants except Nabeel Hussain had trained in jihadist camps in Pakistan. Jawad Akbar, Omar Khyam, Shujah Mahmood, Waheed Mahmood, Salahuddin Amin, Anthony Garcia and Nabeel Hussain all deny conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between 1 January, 2003 and 31 March, 2004.

Khyam, Garcia and Hussain further deny a charge under the Terrorism Act of possessing ammonium nitrate fertiliser for terrorism. Khyam and Shujah Mahmood deny possessing aluminium powder for terrorism.

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Our previous stories on this case are:

March 22 - Islamists Were Ready To Bomb Trains And Nightclubs
May 25 - Muslims Planned To Blow Up Famous Nightclub
June 17 - Islamists Wanted To Copy 9/11
July 13 - Jihad Book At Home Of Suspected Islamist Terror Plotter
July 20 - Islamist Terror Trial Hears Of Canadian's Involvement
Sept 14 - Accused Muslim Was "Happy" About 9/11
Sept 18 - Muslim Terror Suspect Refuses To Answer Questions

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 25, 2006 7:06 PM

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