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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2282251/Three-British-Muslims-guilty-plotting-7-7-terrorist-attack-team-8-suicide-bombers.htmlThree young British Muslims plotted attack 'bigger than 7/7' in Al Qaeda-backed atrocity in shopping centres and stations with team of eight suicide bombers after terror training in Pakistan
Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, wanted 'rival for 9/11'
Ringleaders spent years travelling to Pakistan for 'terror training'
Al-Qaeda backed group made videos to play after they blew themselves up
The terror cell raised funds by posing as bogus charity workers
Plotted 'spectacular campaign' from dirty Birmingham headquarters
Police discovered explosives in Midlands when plan was at advanced stage
Three British Muslims have been found guilty of planning a terrorist attack to rival 9/11 or the 7/7 Tube bombings by packing eight rucksacks with explosives to cause mass casualties in the UK.
Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid, 27, and Ashik Ali, 27, all from Birmingham, were today convicted of plotting the 'spectacular campaign' designed to claim as many lives as the 2005 London Underground bombs that killed 52 innocent people.
Inspired by hate preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, the trio were 'central figures' in an al-Qaeda backed extremist plot to set off bombs and other deadly weapons in crowded shopping centres and railway stations across Britain.
But the three, who called themselves the Four Lions after the black comedy film, only failed because of their own bungling.
The group had set up a sophisticated fraud by pretending to be Muslim Aid charity street collectors, duping legitimate supporters and at least one mosque into giving them thousands of pounds.
However, they then lost £9,000 by making catastrophic investments, tried to secure huge loans to compensate and then failed to destroy evidence of their plotting that police then found in their Midlands safe house.
Judge Justice Henriques said: 'You were seeking to recruit a team of suicide bombers to carry out a spectacular bombing campaign, one which would create an anniversary along the lines of 7/7 or 9/11'.
The bomb plotters had the means, the will and the know-how to carry out mass murder in the biggest terror attack on the British mainland 'in a generation', detectives said.
Six other men have already admitted or been found guilty of being part of the terror cell, it can also be revealed today.
The friends had been going to Pakistan to train how to make bombs and use weapons since March 2009.
By 2011 they were being watched by MI5 and police, who had bugged their car and headquarters.
The investigation, known as Operation Examine/Pitsford, grew to be the 450-strong counter-terror unit’s largest ever, resulting in 12 arrests and smashing one of the most serious terror bomb plots of recent years.
In one chilling warning, Naseer was covertly recorded saying of the UK: 'The only thing you will achieve is suicide bombers on your streets, spilling so much blood you’ll have nightmares for the rest of your life.'
Khalid even boasted that the attack was 'another 9/11' as 'revenge for everything'.
As well as planning a series of suicide bombing, the cell was also heard talking about the possibility of mixing poison into creams such as Vaseline or Nivea and smearing them on car handles to cause mass deaths. The trio even pondered welding blades to a truck and driving it into people.
While driving the men were heard comparing themselves to Formula One drivers.
Prosecutor Brian Altman said: 'They pretended they were going really fast taking over cars, saying there were no cars in front or behind them.
'They had just taken over Jenson Button and Nigel Mansell where is he?
'Then Khalid says: 'It's the four suicide bombers driving around ready to take on England. Oh my God take them out.'
Mixing in street slang with jihadi rhetoric, they justify their plot by saying Westerners deserve to be 'terrorised'.
Naseer says: 'They wanna have sex like donkeys on the street, they wanna club, act like animals and why shouldn't we terrorise them, tell me that?
'You think about it, if someone came in your house, yeah, and started dancing and throughout the night and started basically having orgies and smoking drugs and stuff...you would terrorise them, innit.'
Naseer later anticipates killing 2,000 people in nailbomb attacks, outlining his plan as: 'Boom, boom, boom everywhere...kill.'
Police believe it was the most significant terror plot to be uncovered since the 2006 conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners using bombs disguised as soft drinks.
Naseer was today found guilty of five counts of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, Khalid four, and Ali three, all between Christmas Day 2010 and September 19 2011.
For Naseer, from Sparkhill, Khalid, from Sparkbrook, and Ali, from Balsall Heath, this included planning a bombing campaign, collecting money for terrorism and recruiting others for terrorism.
Naseer and Khalid also travelled to Pakistan for training, and Naseer helped others travel to the country for the same purpose.
Prosecutor Brian Altman QC told the jury: 'The police successfully disrupted a plan to commit an act or acts of terrorism on a scale potentially greater than the London bombings in July 2005, had it been allowed to run its course.
'The defendants were proposing to detonate up to eight rucksack bombs in a suicide attack and/or to detonate bombs on timers in crowded areas in order to cause mass deaths and casualties.'
Naseer and Khalid both travelled to terrorist training camps in Pakistan between 2009 and 2011 to learn about bomb-making, poisons and firearms.
They raised £12,000 for themselves in this way, but were forced to apply for tens of thousands of pounds in loans after losing more than £9,000 of the money playing foreign currency markets.
In a reference to the black comedy film, Ali also told his estranged wife Salma Kabal: 'Oh, you think this is a flipping Four Lions. We're one man short.'
Mr Justice Henriques told the trio that they will all face life in prison when they are sentenced in April or May.
Speaking to Naseer, he said he had been convicted on 'overwhelming evidence' and that he will face 'a very long minimum term'.
The judge said: 'You are a highly skilled bomb maker and explosives expert. Your mindset was similarly manifest.
'You sought to persuade others that a terror plot here in this country was by far preferable to fighting jihad abroad.
'It's clear that you were planning a terrorist outrage in Birmingham.'
Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Adam Gough said: 'From covert recordings from the address at 23 White Street, the group had talked of their need to keep the operation a secret.
'They put up black curtains at the house, and they made reference to their concerns they might be under surveillance.
'We could hear them - and we heard them discussing the 'martyr' (July 7 bomber) Mohammed Sidique Khan, and they discussed how much chemicals they would need.
'Naseer referred to "seven or eight in different places - boom, boom, boom".'
By September 16 2011, the three men were 'experimenting with chemicals and home-made explosive', said Mr Gough, and the police acted.
There was a fear that they might try to test a device, putting members of the public at risk.
Late on the night of September 18, officers swooped on the men's car when it drove along a suburban street as they were heading out to get takeaway food.
All three were arrested, and in the next two hours 14 warrants were carried out on addresses across Birmingham.
Among the addresses raided was the group's safe house, where further evidence of the men's attempts to make a bomb was recovered, including a sports injury cool pack which Naseer had mistakenly believed would contain ammonium nitrate - a key bomb-making ingredient.
A partially-burned note written by Naseer detailing how to make what an expert witness said during the trial would have made a viable bomb was also recovered.
Mr Gough said: 'Naseer had told Ali to burn the note but it wasn't done properly, and Naseer later admitted he had written it.'
The note detailed the chemicals, the amounts and mixtures of how to make explosives, although they never got as far as creating a bomb and carrying out their threats.
In one chilling warning, Naseer was covertly recorded saying of the UK: 'The only thing you will achieve is suicide bombers on your streets, spilling so much blood you'll have nightmares for the rest of your life.'
The men had been under MI5 surveillance, and the bugged recordings painted a picture of incompetence as they plotted their attacks.
The plot hit a snag when, Rahin Ahmed, the cell's chief fundraiser, who admitted the charges, lost more than £9,000 of the group's cash they raised in a bad investments on the money market.
His fellow jihadists ordered him to sell his Honda Civic to make up the loss.
Rather than sell his car, he turned to payday loan firm Yes Loans to make up the missing cash, but was left empty-handed when the firm ruled he did not meet their criteria.
They then suggested setting up stalls around the country selling cakes and perfume and do door-to-door collections to raise cash.
They also applied for bank loans worth £33,000 from two different branches of Barclay's on the same day but were again unsuccessful.
On another occasion they decided to make a bomb out of a cold pack used for sports injuries, believing it contained ammonium nitrate.
They rowed over who should buy the pack - with Naseer, nicknamed Chubbs, refusing as he was too fat to be a believable athlete.
Ali went in his place but in the end there was no ammonium nitrate in the pack they brought.
When they did get round to making a bomb, Ali managed to spill chemicals on his hands, saying 'I've done my fingers man, is it dangerous if you get it on your fingers? It's like acid, innit?'
Naseer, drawing from his experience at terror camp, replies: 'Yeah, it's painful man. You won't die, it'll make you ill a bit'.
Realising the trail of evidence, the men attempt to destroy their paperwork.
But, said Mr Altman, they 'did not make a very good job of it' as police found it largely intact in a rubbish bin in Ali's kitchen.
Eleven men and one woman have been charged over the alleged plot. Some have since pleaded guilty while others await trial.
The six that have admitted terror offences, who are also from Birmingham, are Rahin Ahmed 26, from Moseley; Mujahid Hussain, 21, from Yardley; Naweed Ali, 25, Ishaaq Hussain, 21, Khobaib Hussain, 22, and Shahid Khan, 21, all from Sparkhill.
Salma Kabal, 23, of Alum Rock, Birmingham, will go on trial later this year, accused of not alerting the authorities to the plot.
Also facing trial are Rizwan, of Ward End, Birmingham, and Bahader Ali, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, who deny involvement with the terror cell.
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