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Jail for Indian-born doctor in botched terror attack

LONDON: An explosive-laden jeep was halted only yards from airline passengers at Glasgow airport last year when two men attempted a suicide attack as part of a plot to bomb London and Scotland, a prosecutor told a court on Friday.

Two men inside the vehicle, which they had set on fire, hurled petrol bombs and repeatedly attempted to ram their way into an airport terminal during a botched terror strike in June, said prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw.

Mr. Laidlaw said driver Kafeel Ahmed was engulfed in flames as he emerged from the jeep and tried to hurl petrol bombs at the terminal. He later died from severe burns.

Many details of the case were outlined publicly for the first time by Mr. Laidlaw as Kafeel’s brother, Sabeel Ahmed, was sentenced on Friday for withholding information about the attacks from British authorities.

The Indian-born doctor was given an 18-month jail term after Mr. Laidlaw told the court he had agreed to tell police Kafeel’s cover story that he was in Iceland working on a global warming project. But since Dr. Ahmed (26) already has served half his sentence and agreed to leave Britain, he will be released from jail and deported back to India, said Judge David Calvert-Smith.

Two other men, including Dr. Ahmed’s alleged passenger Bilal Abdullah and Jordanian doctor Mohammed Asha, are scheduled to go on trial over the attacks later this year.

A day before the bungled attack in Glasgow, two Mercedes packed with gas canisters were discovered in London’s entertainment district. Around 500 persons were evacuated from a nightclub after one of the cars was discovered outside.

Mr. Laidlaw said the men attempted the suicide attack at Glasgow’s airport after their plot to bomb London failed. He told the court that cell phone detonators in the cars failed, likely because dense fuel vapours caused them to malfunction.

Kafeel sent his brother sent SMS and e-mail messages between the London and Glasgow attacks, which included suggestions on how to mislead investigators in the aftermath of the planned strike, said Mr. Laidlaw. “This is a project I was working on for some time now. Everything since last week was executed by me and my team,” part of one message read, he said.

“It’s about time that we give up our lives and our families for the sake of Islam,” said another, the prosecutor told the court. — AP

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