he eight men: Ibrahim Savant, 27, Abdul Ahmed Ali, 27, Mohammed Gulzar, 26, Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, Waheed Zaman, 23, Tanvir Hussain, 27, Assad Sarwar, 24, and Umar Islam, 29

Members of a gang of Islamic extremists prepared martyrdom videos as they planned explosions on transatlantic flights, a court heard today.

Six of the eight men recorded videos as they prepared terrorist attacks that would “rain down” on non-believers, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were told.

The men also researched other targets, including power stations and London’s Canary Wharf, prosecutors said.

Airlines imposed tough new limits on the amount of liquids and gels passengers can carry on to flights as a result of the alleged plot.

The alleged plot caused major disruption to British airports and hundreds of flights were grounded when police arrested the suspects.

Prosecutor Peter Wright QC said the videos showed the men contemplating a violent death in the name of Islam.

Mr Wright said: “The recordings of these men were significant because they amounted to recordings in which each of these men contemplated losing their lives in some violent act perpetrated by them as a perceived act of martyrdom in the name of Islam.”


Extracts from defendant Umar Islam’s martyrdom video were played to the jury.

Wearing a black and white headband in front of a black backdrop, he speaks of his desire to kill non-believers.

He describes his planned actions as “revenge” for the actions of the United States and its “accomplices such as the British and the Jews”.

He accused Britons of being “too busy watching Home and Away and EastEnders” to care about what their leaders were doing in Iraq and Afghanistan, the court heard.

A memory stick found in another defendant, Assad Sarwar’s garage contained details of numerous power stations in Britain, the jury was told.

Found on the stick was information about Britain’s major internet service provider exchange, oil refineries, the National Grid, power stations including nuclear facilities and British airports, including Heathrow’s new control tower.

Investigators also discovered details about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and a purchase list including hydrogen peroxide.

The eight men deny conspiring to murder and to endanger the safety of aircraft between January and August 2006.

Prosecutors said the men plotted to kill thousands by blowing passenger jets out of the sky with home-made liquid bombs.

At least seven aircraft flying to major cities across north America were the targets, the court has heard.

The defendants are: Abdulla Ahmed Ali, aka Ahmed Ali Khan, 27, of Prospect Hill, Walthamstow; Assad Sarwar, 27, of Walton Drive, High Wycombe; Tanvir Hussain, 27, of Nottingham Road, Leyton, east London; Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Priory Road, Barking; Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Denver Road, Stoke Newington, north London; Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Farnan Avenue, Walthamstow; Waheed Zaman, 23, of Queen’s Road, Walthamstow; and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young, 29, of Bushey Road, Plaistow, east London.

The trial continues.