A judge sentenced five men to life in prison yesterday for plotting to bomb several targets in London -- including a popular nightclub, power plants and shopping mall -- in a trial that exposed links between the men and at least two of the suicide bombers who attacked the capital two years ago.
Details that were kept secret to ensure a fair trial emerged after the verdict, showing ties between the five men and the bombers who attacked London's transit system on July 7, 2005, killing 52 commuters. But counterterrorism agents failed to piece the information together in time to prevent those bombings.
Omar Khyam was found guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions made from a chemical fertilizer that could endanger life. Also found guilty were Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmood and Alahuddin Amin.
"All of you may never be released. It's not a foregone conclusion," Judge Michael Astill said.
Though sentenced to life, Khyam, Garcia and Waheed Mahmood could be considered for parole after 20 years; Amin and Akbar after 17 years.
Two others, Nabeel Hussain and Shujah Mahmood, were cleared of conspiracy to cause explosions.
All were arrested on March 30, 2004.
The jury deliberated for nearly a month in the trial, which lasted a year. All of the men are British citizens and were accused of plotting a series of attacks using 600kg of fertilizer they placed in a storage unit.
Court-imposed restrictions to ensure the men had a fair trial prohibited reporters from revealing their link to at least two of the four July 7, 2005, suicide bombers and al-Qaeda cells until the case ended.
Intelligence that could have raised the alarm before the July 7 attacks was never thoroughly investigated, counterterrorism officials have acknowledged, explaining they were overwhelmed by seemingly more urgent threats.
Agents monitoring the fertilizer plot heard during an intercepted conversation one of the people who would go on to become a suicide bomber in the July 7 attacks, Mohammed Siddique Khan, warn that he planned to kill non-Muslims, said a government security official, demanding anonymity to discuss sensitive details of the cases.
A tracking device was placed in Khan's car a year before the 2005 suicide bombings and details of his phone calls and meetings with radicals were reported to Britain's domestic spy agency, MI5, on at least four occasions, he said.
Khan also took militia training in Pakistan with fertilizer gang members and others, a witness in the case and officials said.
When the fertilizer gang was arrested in March 2004, police and MI5 uncovered 15 "essential" targets amid their associates -- those thought to be preparing imminent attacks on Britain.
Another 40 -- including Khan and Tanweer -- were ranked "desirable," to be trailed when resources allowed.
But lacking resources in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US, MI5 never pieced together the shreds of intelligence, the official acknowledged.
"There needs to be that killer fact and it just wasn't there," the security official said, noting that Khan had used several aliases.
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