Tang with a bang: Airliners targeted for terror attacks

Men 'planned airliner explosions'

Eight men planned to detonate bombs aboard flights from London across the Atlantic to create deaths on an almost unprecedented scale, a court has heard.

Homemade devices were to be smuggled on to passenger aircraft and detonated mid-flight, Woolwich Crown Court heard.

After their arrests in August 2006, passengers were banned from carrying most liquids on board aircraft.

The eight men all deny conspiring to murder others and endangering aircraft bound for the US and Canada in 2006.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the men planned to inflict heavy casualties, "all in the name of Islam".

He told the court: "These men were, we say, indifferent to the carnage that was likely to ensue.

"They were prepared to board an aircraft with the necessary ingredients and equipment to construct and detonate a device that would bring about not only the loss of their own lives but also all of those who happened by chance to be taking the same journey."

Mr Wright said Mr Ali, Mr Sarwar and Mr Gulzar were the main men behind the plot.

"Unfortunately for these men, but to the considerable good fortune of those that were their intended targets of those devices, their activities had come to the attention of the police," he said

He said from what police had observed "it was realised that these men, together with others, were engaged in some sort of terrorist plot".

A computer memory stick recovered by police contained details of flight timetables, baggage information, security advice and other information about Heathrow airport, he said.

The jury heard the main ingredient of the explosives would have been hydrogen peroxide mixed with other organic materials.

The liquid explosive would have been injected in to 500ml plastic bottles of soft drinks Oasis and Lucozade, Mr Wight said.

A sugary drink known as Tang would be mixed with the solution to add power to the explosion, he continued.

Mr Wright told the court the devices would be detonated using a substance called HTMD, concealed in AA 1.5-volt batteries.

He said of hydrogen peroxide: "It is capable of being detonated to deadly effect, as previous terrorist incidents have demonstrated."

It is alleged the explosives would have been injected in to drinks bottles

The jury was shown pages from Mr Ali's handwritten diary which make apparent references to how the bomb materials would have been got on to the aircraft.

Mr Wright said the bombers would have used a syringe in the base of the bottles to insert the explosive material.

The detonator would have been ignited using a metal wire, a small bulb or the flash from a disposable camera.

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Tang with a bang: Airliners targeted for terror attacks

Tang with a bang: Airliners targeted for terror attacks

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