Three British Muslims have been found guilty of conspiring to killthousands of people three years ago by blowing up trans-Atlanticjetliners with liquid explosives.
The men, all in their late 20s, were found guiltyof plotting to kill thousands by detonating explosives on commercialaircraft while they were in-flight from London to North Americandestinations in the U.S. and Canada.
The court heard that sevenflights were being considered by the group in what would have been thelargest terrorist attack since September 11, 2001.
Prosecutorssay the men planned to smuggle liquid explosives onto the planesdisguised as soft drinks. The devices would have been assembled inairplane toilets and detonated by suicide bombers.
It is saidthe planned attack was guided by senior militants in Pakistan who hopedto mount a so-called 'spectacular' strike against the West.
Ring leader Abdullah Ahmed Ali was found guilty along with colleagues Assad Sarwar and Tanvir Hussain.
Shortly before his arrest just more than three years ago, Hussain, along with the others recorded so-called martyrdom videos.
"AndI only with that I could do this again, come back again and do it againand just do it again and again until you know, people come to theirsenses and they realize, realize you know, do not mess with theMuslims," Hussain said.
Scotland Yards Anti-Terror chief, John McDowall says had the plot been carried out, it could have been devastating.
"Thiswas a hugely significant attack plan. With that number of aircraft,with the types of destination that were being talked about, it isconceivable to think of upwards of 2,000 casualties in the airdepending on the point of detonation whether others would have beencaught on the ground as well. These were just horrendously largenumbers of potential fatalities," McDowall said.
Becauseof the plot, sweeping security changes were brought into the airlineindustry, including restrictions on carrying liquids on planes thatpersist to this day that many passengers just have to cope with.
"Icannot travel with my hair products, a lot of make up, a lot ofdifferent things that you would not think would be a problem," one passenger said.
Five other defendants in the London trial were acquitted.
Allof the men say they never intended to bring down any planes, but ratherthey wanted to unleash a series of harmless stunt explosions on famouslandmarks here to in their words, "expose the failings of Westernforeign policy."