After a five-month trial in London, three English citizens of Pakistani descent have been found guilty of plotting to kill people using bombs. The jury did not agree that the men intended to blow up transatlantic passenger planes.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain (photo at right) were found guilty in conspiring to kill "persons unknown." Sentencing will be forthcoming. 

LONDON (AFP) — Three members of an Islamist cell accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic aircraft with liquid explosives in 2006 were found guilty by a court in London on Monday.

Abdulla Ahmed Ali, described as the leader of the eight-man group, was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiring to murder hundreds of people, as were two others, Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain.

The trial considered charges that the men planned to smuggle the explosives in soft drink bottles on board aircraft flying from London's main Heathrow airport to North America.

The home-made devices would then have been set off in flight, causing carnage in the skies, prosecutors alleged during the three-and-a-half-month trial.

The men's arrest in August 2006 prompted new restrictions on carrying liquids on board aircraft from Britain, which had been on high alert since July 2005 suicide bombings which killed 52 people in London.

Share This Article