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Suspect suggested poisoning fans

An artist's impression of, left to right, Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia, Nabel Hussain, Jaward Akbar, Waheed Mahmood, Shuijah Mahmood and Salahuddin Amin at the Old Bailey in central London last week. All are accused of plotting to detonate 600kg of explosives and were close to mounting an attack when police caought them, a prosecutor said at the opening of their trial. PHOTO: AP

One of seven men accused of plotting a terrorist campaign in the UK suggested poisoning football crowds by selling spiked drinks at matches, the Old Bailey criminal court in London heard on Friday.

Waheed Mahmood, one of seven defendants with alleged al-Qaeda links, also talked about delivering contaminated food and claimed he had actually sold poisoned burgers from a mobile vending cart somewhere in Britain, according to US supergrass Mohammed Babar.

Babar has already pleaded guilty in the US to offences connected to a UK bomb plot and has been flown to London to testify at this trial about the time he spent with some of the defendants in Pakistan and their alleged plans to attack the UK. Yesterday, he told the court that Waheed Mahmood discussed ways of bringing jihad to Britain while in a house in Juja Khan, Pakistan, with him and other men, including two of the other defendants, Anthony Garcia and Salahuddin Amin, in February 2003.

Babar said of Waheed Mahmood: "He didn't understand why all those UK brothers were coming to Pakistan and wanted to go to Afghanistan when they could easily do operations in England." Waheed Mahmood, who worked for an electricity and gas supplier, said they should consider operations which caused economic damage rather than just loss of life.

He had allegedly suggested knocking out part of the British Telecom network, which would shut down businesses and lose them a huge amount of revenue, even for a couple of hours.

"At this time, he had worked for some kind of utility company and he had a very detailed knowledge of how things worked and specific areas as far as the grid goes," Babar said.

He said Waheed Mahmood later gave other examples of how to wage jihad in the UK. "He said you could just get a job in a soccer stadium, like a beer vendor, and put poison into the cans ... and hand the tins out."

Babar said the defendant mentioned another plan, which he claimed he had carried out although Babar did not believe him, involving a mobile vending cart and selling poisoned burgers on the street.

The witness said Waheed Mahmood also suggested setting up a bogus restaurant; it would not have any premises, but anyone who ordered a takeaway from the number on a flyer would get a delivery of poisoned food. The business would be untraceable and the perpetrator would leave the area after carrying out his plan.
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