al-Qaida Cell Discuss Hi-Jacking BA Flight

[Wokeman]

Two members of a suspected British al-Qaida cell discussed copying the September 11 terrorist attacks by getting 30 suicide bombers to hijack a BA flight, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

One of the defendants, who are said to be part of a plot to blow up civilian targets in Britain, said the gang would aim to crash the plane rather than fly it into a building. In covert recordings played to the court, Omar Khyam, 24, said: "Imagine you've got a plane, 300 people in it, you buy tickets for 30 brothers in there ... you just crash the plane."

Co-defendant Jawad Akbar, 22 a student at Brunel University, interrupted to say: "Thirty brothers, to find 30 brothers willing to commit suicide is a big thing." But Mr Khyam went on: "If you spoke to some serious brothers, to the right people, you'd probably get it bro."

In an apparent reference to the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington DC, Mr Khyam said: "Thirty brothers on a British Airways flight ... 19 were split up in four planes.

"Thirty brothers on a plane, the beauty of it is they don't have to fly into a building, just crash the flipping thing."

Mr Khyam described the proposal as "just an idea". He said: "It's a good idea, I'm not denying it, a good idea, but it's not there, it's not been put together." The jury also heard Mr Khyam and Mr Akbar talk about poisoning water supplies, cutting power cables and targeting gas pipes.

Mr Khyam and his brother Shujah Mahmood, 19, Mr Akbar and Waheed Mahmood, 34, all from Crawley, West Sussex, Salahuddin Amin, 31, of Luton, Anthony Garcia, 23, of Ilford, London and Nabeel Hussain, 21, of Horley, Surrey, deny conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life between January 1 2003 and March 31 2004. The trial continues.