Three Brit Muslims awarded 20 years imprisonment in airline bombing plot

LONDON - The three Al-Qaeda terror suspects accused of plotting to bomb seven transatlantic flights have been handed a life term by a local court here.

The Woolwich Crown Court in South London awarded a minimum of 20 years of jail term to Ibrahim Savant, Arafat Waheed Khan and Waheed Zaman, who planned to detonate liquid bombs on the transatlantic jets.

Mastermind Abdulla Ahmed Ali had developed a home-made hydrogen peroxide bomb which could be disguised as a soft drink to be carried through security and assembled afterwards.

“The men intended to kill an uncertain but potentially large number of innocent men, women and children,” Justice Timothy Holroyde told the court while awarding the sentence.

Justice Holroyde described the convicts as “foot soldiers”, who were unaware about their intended targets and took no part in planning or assembling explosives.

He, however, highlighted each of the ‘would be’ attackers had agreed to join the terror plot knowing that they would be killing general public.

“In furtherance of that conspiracy, each of you recorded a suicide video in which you described yourself as being blessed by the opportunity to take part in that mission,” The Sun quoted Holroyde, as saying.

The trio were cleared by a jury of their role in the bombing plot, but found guilty at a retrial of plotting mass murder. (ANI)