3 more appear in London court over terror plot

Police vans carrying the three terror suspects arrive at the City of Westminster Magistrate's Court in central London, yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Nabeel Hussain, 22, Mohammed Shamin Uddin, 35, and Mohammed Yasar Gulzar, 25, all from London, brought to 11 the total number of suspects facing the most serious charge of conspiracy to murder and preparing acts of terrorism.

The three bearded men, flanked by guards, wore identical white sweatshirts as they appeared briefly at City of Westminster magistrates court.

Hussain's request for bail was refused, and no bail application was made for Uddin or Gulzar, as the trio were remanded in custody until Monday when they will reappear at the Old Bailey criminal court alongside their co-accused.

Hussain, Gulzar and Uddin are charged with having "conspired with other persons to murder other persons" and acting "with the intention of committing acts of terrorism" by intending "to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board," a police statement said Tuesday.

Four others face lesser charges, including withholding information about a possible attack and possession of documents that would be useful to terrorists.

Some 25 people have been arrested in connection with the alleged plot since police carried out pre-dawn raids on August 10. Five have since been released without charge.

Security at British airports was stepped up to unprecedented levels in the aftermath of the police raids, and the national threat level ramped up to "critical" -- the highest of five levels.

The suspects were allegedly planning to smuggle seeming innocuous liquids on to planes with the intention of assembling them into bombs on board. The alleged plot was described by one senior police officer as "an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

The other eight to appear in court Monday are Ahmed Abdullah Ali, 25, Tanvir Hussain, 25, Umar Islam, 28, Arafat Waheed Khan, 25, Assad Ali Sarwar, 26, Adam Khatib, 19, Ibrahim Savant, 25, Waheed Zaman, 25.

Umair Hussain, 24, was last week charged under anti-terror legislation for failing to disclose information about Nabeel Hussain, his brother.

The remaining three were remanded in custody on Tuesday when they made brief appearances in magistrates court.

Two are charged with withholding information about an impending terrorist attack -- Mehran Hussain, 23, another of Nabeel Hussain's brothers, and Cossar Ali, 24, the wife of Ahmed Abdullah Ali and mother to an eight-month baby.

The third, a 17-year-old youth who cannot be named because he is a minor, was accused of possessing a book about bomb-making, suicide notes and wills, and a map of Afghanistan with information "likely to be useful" to someone planning an attack. He is due to next appear in court on September 10.

Umair Hussain is due in court on Friday, while Mehran Hussain is due in court on September 19. Cossar Ali will appear on Tuesday.