Chris Greenwood
Secretly filmed footage from the inside of an alleged terrorist bomb factory was shown in court for the first time yesterday.
Police concealed a camera inside a Walthamstow flat as they closed in on a gang of suspected Islamic fanatics.
Woolwich Crown Court was shown a clip of two men, Abdulla Ahmed Ali and Tanvir Hussain, inside the second-floor flat. The black-and-white footage was shot using a "fish-eye" lens from ankle height.
It appeared to show the men using a power drill to make a hole in the base of a plastic soft drink bottle. A second camera, hidden across the street, captured Mr Ali and Mr Hussain as they arrived and left the Forest Road flat.
Prosecutors claim the two men are key figures in a conspiracy to murder thousands by blowing up passenger jets.
Home-made liquid bombs disguised as Lucozade or Oasis drinks would be smuggled aboard before being detonated in mid-air, they said.
The flat was used to make the bombs and record suicide videos, the jury has been told.
Eight men are on trial accused of conspiracy to murder and to endanger aircraft. They deny the offences.
More evidence from a surveillance operation centred on east London and High Wycombe in July and August 2006 was shown in court.
Police followed Mr Ali and Mr Hussain around the clock in early August 2006 in the days before they were arrested.
The pair visited mobile phone stores, used internet cafes and chatted in a Walthamstow park.
Meanwhile, in High Wycombe, other officers watched co-defendant Assad Sarwar as he bought citric acid at three pharmacies in less than 20 minutes. It was claimed citric acid is one of several ingredients for the improvised bombs.
Mr Sarwar also visited supermarkets, an internet cafe and used a series of public telephones.
A fourth man, Mohammed Gulzar, was filmed as he met Mr Sarwar in east London.
The case was adjourned until Monday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article