Birmingham-born suspect in jet bomb plot
A Birmingham-born terror suspect has emerged as the suspected architect of the plot to blow up thousands of innocent air passengers in a series of suicide attacks aboard transatlantic jets.
It follows the conviction at Woolwich Crown Court of a trio of drinks bottle bombers after United States spies intercepted damning e-mails between the group and their al-Qaeda fixer in Pakistan, known as "Paps".
He was thought to be Birmingham-born Rashid Rauf.
The Ward End man is thought to have become embroiled in terrorist campaigns after fleeing to Pakistan after his uncle Mohammed Saeed, 54, was stabbed to death in the city in 2002.
The coded emails between bomber Abdulla Ahmed Ali and "Paps" were intercepted by the American National Security Agency and shared with British anti-terror agents. They referred to explosives as "aftershave" and police surveillance as a "skin problem". In one email, Ali wrote: "I set up my music shop now. I only need to sort out an opening time. I need stock."
This, the prosecution said, was a message that the bomb factory was ready, the plan was being pulled together and the ingredients for the bombs were needed.
Along with Ali, 28, of Walthamstow, east London, Assad Sarwar 29, of Walton Drive, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Tanvir Hussain, 28, of Nottingham Road, Leyton, east London, will be sentenced for the airliner plot on Monday. The trio were convicted of conspiracy to murder in a trial last year but were retried, along with five others, for the airliner plot after the first jury failed to reach verdicts on those charges.
The jury failed to reach a verdict on Umar Islam, 31, of Bushey Road, Plaistow, east London, in connection with the airliner plot. But Islam was convicted of conspiracy to murder and will also be sentenced next week. Adina Ezekiel, for the prosecution, said a decision would be announced on Monday about whether they would seek a re-trial of four other men.
When Rauf was arrested in Pakistan in 2006, in connection with the plot, British detectives had to bring the whole operation that had been targeting the liquid bombers forward in a hurry. But Rauf managed to escape from custody in Pakistan just before Christmas in 2007.
Rauf had been attending a hearing in Islamabad before his guards stopped at a roadside mosque to allow him to pray. They uncuffed him and the militant quickly escaped through a back door.
US agents refused to let prosecutors use the e-mails in the first trial of the liquid bombers, hoping that Rauf would begin to use the Yahoo! email account again.
Months after he was killed in a missile strike by an unmanned US Predator drone aircraft in the lawless North Waziristan region last November, Scotland Yard was told it could use the crucial emails which helped secure Monday's prosecution.
Last year Rauf was named as a possible "facilitator" of the July 7 London bombings and he also had links to Muktar Ibrahim, the leader of the failed July 21 London bombings. While his body has never been recovered and his family have challenged whether he is dead, intelligence experts say it is likely that he is deceased.
Gordon Brown paid tribute yesterday to all those involved in the counter-terrorism operation leading to Monday's convictions. His spokesman told a daily briefing of journalists in Westminster: "The Prime Minister wishes to express publicly his gratitude to the police, security and intelligence agencies and all those involved in the work they did.
"Their professionalism and dedication prevented lives being lost in this country to terrorism."