TERRORISM TRIAL: Explosion footage shown in court

8:48am Wednesday 14th May 2008

JURORS have been shown footage of the devastating impact of home made liquid bombs similar to those allegedly being made in a Walthamstow flat.

Four men from Walthamstow and one from Leyton are among eight people accused of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners.

A filmed explosion, using similar material found in a Forest Road flat and in woodland in Buckinghamshire, was carried out in January at the Ministry of Defence's base at Fort Halstead, in Kent.

The footage, which was viewed at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday, showed an explosion shattering 12mm-thick laminated glass.

The explosions used different ratios of hydrogen peroxide and a sugary powdered drink named Tang.

The prosecution claims the gang planned to disguise the hydrogen peroxide in soft drinks bottles, before smuggling them on board passenger jets and setting them off with a detonator concealed inside AA batteries.

This would be initated with a power source such as a disposable camera.

But judge Mr Justice Calvert-Smith questioned the relevance of showing the hypothetical tests.

He said: "We have to deal with the fact this is a conspiracy rather than actually causing an explosion or muder."

The court previously heard that household items and soft drinks bottles were found at the Forest Road flat.

The defendants are Ahmed Abdullah Ali, aka Ahmed Ali Khan, 27, of Prospect Hill, Walthamstow; Arafat Waheed Khan, 26, of Farnan Avenue, Walthamstow; Waheed Zaman, 23, of Queen's Road, Walthamstow; Ibrahim Savant, 27, of Folkestone Road, Walthamstow; and Tanvir Hussain, of Nottingham Road, Leyton.

Also accused are Assad Sarwar, 24, and Umar Islam, aka Brian Young, 29, both of High Wycombe, and Mohammed Gulzar, 26, of Barking.

They all deny the charges.

The trial continues

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