The arrested
- Eight British Muslims were remanded in custody for a further two weeks after appearing in court in connection with a suspected plot to blow up transatlantic airliners at the Old Bailey. The men, aged between 19 and 28, are accused of conspiracy to murder and preparing an act of terrorism. They are: Tanvir Hussain, 25, of no fixed abode; Umar Islam, 28, of east London; Arafat Waheed Khan, 25, from Walthamstow, east London; Ahmed Abdullah Ali, 25 from Walthamstow; Ibrahim Savant, 25, from north London; Waheed Zaman, 22, from Walthamstow; Assad Sarwar, 26, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Adam Khatib, 19, from Walthamstow. They are each charged with one offence of conspiracy to murder. They are also charged with a new offence contrary to the Terrorism Act 2006, alleging that they were preparing to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices on to aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board. The will appear at the Old Bailey for a preliminary hearing via video link from Belmarsh high security jail.
- Prosecutor Colin Gibbs told a packed courtroom that due to the mountain of evidence, including forensic material, he expected the men to face "a very long trial of (between) five and eight months." The trial, he said, would not realistically start until at least January 2008.
|