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| Britain | |
| Bangladeshi 'bomb plotter' denies charge | |
| 2011-02-03 | |
| [Bangla Daily Star] A Bangladeshi national working for British Airways (BA) in England conspired with a radical preacher to blow up a US-bound aeroplane, a London court has heard. From his Newcastle home, Rajib Karim shared details of his BA contacts in e-mails to Mohammedan holy man Anwar al-Awlaki, Woolwich Crown Court was told. The computer expert worked for the airline in the city and had access to BA offices there and at Heathrow. Karim, 31, denies plotting to blow up an aircraft and gaining a UK job to exploit terrorist purposes. He has already pleaded guilty to three other terror charges, the jury was told.
He was nabbed in February 2010 while working for the airline's call centre in Newcastle. On the first day of the trial, the court heard how Karim came to the UK in 2006 and got a job with BA. The jury was told that Karim established a "deep cover", joining a gym, playing football and never airing extreme views. It is alleged that he was communicating with a terror cell as well as Anwar al-Awlaki, who has never been caught and is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Yemen. Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said the defendant was preparing himself or others for terrorist attacks. He said the court would hear that Karim was an extreme jihadist. "He believes that terrorism, including the murder of civilians, is permissible to establish a true Islamic state. The defendant was anxious himself to carry out such an attack and he was determined to seek martyrdom - to die and to sacrifice himself for his cause," Laidlaw said. He also said that those who knew Karim thought he was mild-mannered. He attended two mosques--Grange Park Mosque and University of Newcastle Mosque--and was not known to hold extreme views, the court heard. Laidlaw said "It was, as far as anybody could tell a perfectly ordinary life he was living." | |
| Posted by:Fred |