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Five men charged over alleged UK bomb plot

Five men arrested last week during anti-terrorist police raids in southeast England were charged on Thursday with involvement in an alleged bomb plot, police said.

Two other men who had been arrested in the raids were released on bail pending further inquiries, London's Metropolitan Police said.

Three of the five men were charged under anti-terrorism legislation with possessing 600kg of a potentially explosive fertilizer for possible use in an act of terrorism.

Police released no details of the alleged conspiracy.

More than 700 police officers were involved in the anti-terrorist operation that ended with arrests of nine men, all of them British citizens, on March 30 and April 1 in London and several suburban towns.

One 17-year-old suspect was charged on Tuesday with an explosives offense not covered by the UK's terrorism laws. Another 27-year-old suspect was initially freed but then immediately arrested again, on suspicion of deception, and released Wednesday on bail.

On Thursday, Anthony Garcia, 21, Omar Khyam, 22, and Nabeel Hussain, 18, were charged under terms of the Terrorism Act with possessing an article for terrorist purposes.

The three were charged with possessing the ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer between Nov. 11 last year and March 31. Police alleged they kept it at a self-storage warehouse in Hanwell, west London.

The charge specified they possessed the fertilizer "in circumstances which gave rise to reasonable suspicion that ... possession was for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism."

Garcia, Khyam, Jawad Akbar, 20, and Waheed Mahmoud, 32, were also charged with an explosives offense that falls under ordinary British criminal law -- that they "unlawfully and maliciously" conspired with others between Oct. 1 last year and March 31 this year to cause an explosion likely to endanger life or damage property.

Police did not explain why Hussain was charged with possessing the fertilizer but not with conspiring with the others charged.

All five men are scheduled to appear at Belmarsh Magistrates Court, southeast London, today.

Two other men, aged 19 and 21, whom police did not identify by name, were released after questioning under anti-terrorism powers, immediately rearrested, then released once again on bail, police said.

The 21-year-old was re-arrested for alleged forgery and theft, and the 19-year-old was re-arrested for alleged theft and deception. Police gave no further details of the allegations against the two but said they would have to return to court in July.
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