Nine in court on bomb plot charges

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ABOVE: Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury is one of nine men remanded in custody charged with planning a te

Nine men have been remanded in custody in connection with a bombing plot to target landmark sites in London.

The defendants, accused of targeting sites such as the Stock Exchange, the Houses of Parliament and the US Embassy, appeared by videolink at the Old Bailey.

They are alleged to have also targeted political and religious figures in the plot in the run-up to Christmas. The defendants were remanded to another hearing on February 25.

Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said their trial would not take place until at least January next year. The venue is likely to be Woolwich Crown Court but he will listen to representations from lawyers about alternative courts.

The suspects, from Cardiff, London and Stoke-on-Trent, were arrested following a series of dawn raids by counter-terrorism officers on December 21. They are charged with conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life or damage property between November 6 and December 21.

A further charge alleges they were preparing for acts of terrorism between the same dates. This was said to be by agreeing potential targets, carrying out reconnaissance, attending meetings, igniting and testing incendiary material and researching and discussing materials and methods.

The defendants from Cardiff were Gurukanth Desai, 29, of Albert Street, Omar Sharif Latif, 27, of Neville Street and Abdul Malik Miah, 24, of Ninian Park Road.

The defendants from London are Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury, 20, of Stanliff House, Tower Hamlets, and Shah Mohammed Lutfar Rahman, 28, of St Bernard’s Road, Newham, both east London.

The defendants from Stoke-on-Trent are Nazam Hussain, 25, of Grove Street; Usman Khan, 19, of Persia Walk; Mohibur Rahman, 26, of North Road and Abdul Mohammed Shahjahan, 26, of Burmarsh Walk.

Extra police officers were on duty in court as about 20 members of right-wing organisation the English Defence League watched proceedings from the public gallery. Earlier, they had demonstrated outside the central London court saying they objected to the “Islamification of Britain”.

Daily Star :: News Feed

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