August 17, 2004
The Associated Press
LONDON — British police charged eight men Tuesday with terrorist offenses, including one suspected al-Qaida operative accused of having surveillance plans of financial institutions in New York, Washington and New Jersey that were at the center of a U.S. terror alert this month.
The men were arrested two weeks ago in a major sweep connected to raids in Pakistan and to Aug. 1 terror alerts in the United States, where officials warned that al-Qaida had scoped out buildings as possible targets several years ago.
A ninth man was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon.
In Washington, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said federal authorities "will explore every aspect of this case" to determine whether to press charges in the United States. The FBI will continue cooperating with British authorities, he said.
"We commend the United Kingdom's action today in bringing criminal charges against individuals who may have connections to potential terrorist activities in the United States," Ashcroft said.
The eight were due to make a first court appearance Wednesday at Belmarsh high security prison in London.
One suspect, Dhiren Barot, 32, was charged with possessing a reconnaissance plan of the Prudential Building in Newark, N.J., in violation of the Terrorism Act.
He also was charged with possession of a reconnaissance plan of the New York Stock Exchange, the International Monetary Fund building in Washington and the Citigroup building in New York, and possessing two notebooks containing information on explosives, poisons, chemicals and related matters.
In Washington, a U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Barot was the same person previously identified as an al-Qaida operative known as Abu Eisa al-Hindi or Abu Musa al-Hindi.
Metropolitan police identified the other seven suspects as Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24; Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31; Omar Abdul Rehman, 20; Junade Feroze, 28; Zia ul Haq, 25; Qaisar Shaffi, 25; and Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26.
The eight were accused of conspiring together and with unknown persons to commit murder, and conspiracy to commit public nuisance by the use of radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals and/or explosives.
Tarmohammed also was charged with possessing a reconnaissance plan of the Prudential Building.
Shaffi was charged with possession of an extract of the "Terrorist's Handbook" containing information on the preparation of chemicals and explosive recipes.
Barot, Tarmohammed and Shaffi were all arrested in Willesden in northwest London.
The ninth man, Matthew Philip Monks, 32, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon.
All nine had been held at a high-security London police station since Aug. 3 on suspicion of being concerned in the "commission, preparation or instigation" of acts of terrorism.
Under British anti-terrorism laws, police can question suspects for up to 14 days before charging them or releasing them.
The suspects were among 13 men arrested in the Aug. 3 raids in London, the nearby towns of Luton and Watford and Blackburn in northwest England.
Two were released without charge and two others were eliminated as terrorist suspects and re-arrested on suspicion of possessing forged documents.
Associated Press reporter Ted Bridis in Washington contributed to this report.
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