London trial

The year-long trial at the Old Bailey in London of a group of Muslim conspirators ended last week with sentences of life for the five main ringleaders. This was the so-called Crevice group that had been monitored for several months by the British MI5 and then Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism police. During their surveillance of this group there were many contacts with other individuals and groups, and while at the beginning of the case they recognized 50 groups of Muslim conspirators, by the end this had risen to over 200. It is important to note that the vast majority of the ca. 1,200 people being investigated were British-born Muslims.
As the ring of contacts expanded through 2004, the police found themselves overwhelmed by the numbers. Of course not all of them were terrorists or were considered suspicious. In fact, even in the trial one of those charged was found not guilty and is now considered to have been a dupe of the main ringleaders (showing that the justice system works). Also, some of those followed and suspected were not arrested, and this might be because they aided the police or were able to cover their tracks.
The main organizer of the group was Omar Khayam of Crawley, who had been on trips to Pakistan and had received training at al Qaeda camps there. MI5, the intelligence arm, brought him and his contacts to the attention of the anti-terrorism police. He had rented a storage space and put in it a huge bag containing 600 kg of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, a well known explosive that had been used by the Kansas City bomber in the USA. Unbeknownst to him the police had him under surveillance and switched the powder so that no bomb could be made.
When the conspirators started talking about potential bombing targets, malls, dance clubs, synagogues, and then they bought airplane tickets to Pakistan, the police moved in and arrested them. Showing the international ramifications of these plots, one of their co-conspirators who was making the timers for their bombs was arrested in Ottawa, and tried in Canada, and one named Barbar was arrested in the US and turned into a Govt. informant against them and is now in the FBI witness protection program.
One of the most telling points highlighted in a BBC Panorama program aired last week entitled "Did MI5 miss the London Bombers" by Peter Taylor (available on BBC.co.uk in the Panorama section) is that the MI5 recorded four separate contacts between this group (Crevice) that they were following and the group that later carried out the London bombings on 7/7 and these were not followed up. In fact on one occasion Khan and Tanweer the two London bombing ringleaders were followed all the way to Leeds 17 months before the bombings in London, but the police failed to follow up on this because they regarded the two as not likely suspects.
In January, the trial took place of the 6 conspirators in the failed London bombings of July 21, a completely different group (of African/Somali origin). In that case they used peroxide bombs that failed to detonate. These also were not suicide bombers, they hoped to get away. Because their bombs failed to go off they were apprehended. At first it was said that they were "copy-cat" bombers of the 7/7 successful suicide bombings, but in fact this was not true. The evidence shows that they had been planning this attack for many months before the 7/7 bombings, and furthermore they had had contact with the earlier killers.
So the pattern that emerges is of hundreds of young Muslim plotters, in small cells with informal contacts, some of African origin (the 7/21) bombers and some of Pakistani origin (the Crevice fertilizer bombers). A similar situation has developed in the US with the latest aborted attack on Fort Dix, NJ, by a group of disaffected American Muslims following al Qaeda methods. A book has been written by a former member of one of these cells entitled "The Islamist: why I became a radical Muslim in Britain and why I left" by Ed Husain, showing how he was brainwashed and indoctrinated before he managed to break away. What is clear is that some of these Muslim are dedicated to killing innocent British or Americans in order to advance the cause of extremist Islam. Fortunately, the police are now forewarned, but the sheer number of suspicious groups and individuals makes their job very difficult. Nevertheless there are some guilty young Muslim men who will never see the light of day again.