|
Guns, jihad books found in Ottawa home of accused terrorist
Police discovered guns, ammunition, electrical components and books on terrorism and jihad during a raid on the Ottawa home of accused terrorist Momin Khawaja, a British court was told Tuesday. The prosecution evidence emerged at the London trial of seven British men charged with conspiring to bomb sites in and around London, including nightclubs, trains and a major shopping centre.British authorities allege Khawaja, 27, played a "vital role" in the suspected plot by making remote-controlled detonators to be used to explode bombs constructed from 600 kilograms of ammonium nitrate fertilizer the group allegedly acquired. Though he is named as a conspirator in the case, Khawaja has not been charged by British authorities with any crime. Instead, he is to stand trial in Ottawa in January as the first person charged under Canada's Anti-terrorism Act. The London trial, which began in February, is offering a preview of the federal government's case against Khawaja, in custody in an Ottawa jail since his March 2004 arrest. He denies any involvement in the alleged terror plot, as do the seven London defendants. Crown prosecutor Mark Heywood told the Old Bailey trial Tuesday that when RCMP officers raided the home of Khawaja and his family on March 29, 2004, they found three rifles under Khawaja's bed along with dozens of rounds of ammunition. It is unclear whether the rifles were registered. Police seized several books, he said, including: Terrorism and Self Sufficiency, Defence of The Muslim Lands, The Religion And Doctrine of Jihad, CIA Special Operations and Equipment, The Art of War, On Guerrilla Warfare and an unspecified military manual. Also seized was a combat knife, several boxes of electronic equipment Khawaja is a computer and software expert and some hobby rocket equipment, including a small launcher. Earlier in the trial, prosecutor David Waters told the 12-member jury RCMP officers also found a cellphone jammer in Khawaja's home, a lawful and commercially available device that prevents cellphones from working in the immediate area in a hospital, for example. "Khawaja had it no doubt as part of his development of a more sophisticated and portable jamming device which could be carried by the bomber," to prevent a stray cellphone signal from prematurely triggering a bomb, Waters testified. He said Khawaja visited some of the defendants in London for a few days in February 2004, allegedly to inform them of his progress in Canada with making the remote-controlled detonators. Previous e-mails from Khawaja, court heard, expressed his concern at smuggling the devices with him on his flight to London. Instead, prosecutors say Khawaja took some of the men to an Internet cafe in Crawley, about an hour south of London, and showed them an image of one of his remote-controlled detonators, which he supposedly told them had a two-kilometre range. British police alerted Canadian authorities, who started watching Khawaja as he stepped off an Air Canada flight in Toronto on Feb. 22, 2004. Posted by: Steve 2006-07-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=160097 |