Operation Crevice

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Operation Crevice was a raid launched by metropolitan and local police in England on the morning of 30 March 2004. It was in response to a report indicating cells of terrorists of Pakistani origin were operating in the Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and Bedfordshire.

The source of the report was said to be an interception of an instruction sent from Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan to militants in Britain.

1 The arrests
2 Ammonium nitrate
3 Mohammed Junaid Babar
4 The trial
5 References

[edit] The arrests

A number of arrests were made, and 1,300 pounds (600 kg) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which can be used in making bombs, were confiscated. The chemical was seized in a storage space in Hanwell in west London.

At least six homes in Langley Green, near Crawley, were searched, and an area was excavated at one site. A cookie tin filled with aluminum powder, another potential bomb ingredient, was recovered behind a garden shed.[1]

The arrest of software engineer Mohammad Momin Khawaja on 29 March 2004, in Ottawa, Canada, was reportedly related to Operation Crevice. He reportedly was experimenting with remote-controlled detonators.[2]

The court case against the men began in March 2006, and was expected to last 5 months. The BBC report name the accused as:

Salahuddin Amin, 31, from Luton in Bedfordshire
Omar Khyam, 24, from Crawley, West Sussex
Shujah Mahmood, 19, from Crawley, West Sussex
Anthony Garcia (also known as Rahman Adam), 23, of Ilford, east London
Nabeel Hussain, 20, of Horley, Surrey
Waheed Mahmood, 34, from Crawley, West Sussex
Jawad Akbar, 22, both from Crawley, West Sussex

An eighth man, Momin Khawaja, in custody in Canada, also stands charged of being part of the plot. A ninth man involved in the alleged plot, Mohammed Babar, is the prosecution's star witness.

The court case is, the BBC reports, based mainly around the evidence of so-called supergrass (informant) Mohammed Babar, who was found guilty of terrorist offences in the USA. It should be noted that the defence describe Babar as a "liar and a fantasist." The BBC also report that the potential targets for the case included the Bluewater shopping centre, the Ministry of Sound nightclub in London and London synagogues.

[edit] Ammonium nitrate

The 600kg of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, found in a self storage depot in Hanwell, west London, is a central piece of evidence. It was locked in the depot under the password 'pink' and access code 666. It had been allegedly bought by Anthony Garcia in November 2003. The police substituted it with an inert substance sometime after 20 February 2004, "with sufficient expertise to avoid detection."^[1]

[edit] Mohammed Junaid Babar

Mohammed Junaid Babar is the prosecution's star witness. He was flown to London to give evidence in the case, and arrived at court amid heavy security, driven from a police station in an armoured convoy with a helicopter overhead.^[2]

The prosecution claims that he was part of the plot and "has an insight as an insider into the events and plans, which an outsider could not have."

He has been given immunity from prosecution in relation to the charges the British defendants face.^[3]

He claims to have stolen three computers from a software company he worked for in Peshawar and given them to Mahmood because they were needed by Al Qaeda. The company was run by the older brother of one of the founder members of al-Muhajiroun.^[4]

The counsel for the defence called this witness "a liar, nothing more than a conceited fantasist."^[5]

[edit] The trial

The trial began in March 2006, and the prosecution ran its charges until the end of August. The allegations brought up by the witness testimony and evidence included the following:

Possession of a 600kg bag of ammonium nitrate fertiliser "which could have been used to make bombs".^[3]
Planning to hide ammonium nitrate in bags of dried fruit so that it could be shipped to the UK by Federal Express.^[6]
Conspiring with Mohammed Momin Khawaja, a Canadian, and other unknown persons to "cause... an explosion... of a nature likely to endanger life".^[3]
Working for Abdul Hadi, said to be number three in Al Qaeda.^[3]
Planning to transport detonators inside small radios^[3] or bottles of shampoo or shaving cream from Pakistan to the UK via Iran, Turkey, eastern Europe, and Belgium.^[6]
Planning to buy a radio-isotope bomb from the Russian mafia in Belgium.^[7]
Plotting to poison football crowds by selling spiked drinks at matches, and sell poisoned food from a takeaway restaurant.^[8]
Receiving terrorist training in the use of explosives in Pakistan.^[9]
Planning to set off explosions in shopping centres, nightclubs, synagogs, and disrupt electricity and gas supplies.^[7] The police played secret recordings during the trial made in February 2004 of the suspects discussing potential targets.^[10]
Plotting to emulate the 11 September, 2001 attacks by finding 30 "brothers" willing to commit suicide and crash a plane.^[11] (This discussion was also caught on tape.)

Omar Khyam's defence testimony began with him telling the court of his gradual conversion to militant jihadist and wish to help the fighters in Kashmir and Afghanistan.^[12]

Then, on 18 September, to the surprise of his defence counsel, Khyam refused to give any more evidence, stating that the ISI in Pakistan has had words with his family and were worried that he might reveal more about them. He added: "right now, as much as I want to clarify matters, the priority for me has to be the safety of my family so I am going to stop." He assured the judge that he understood that his refusal to answer questions might cause the jury to be suspicious.^[13]

Salahuddin Amin's testimony consisted of claims that he had been tortured by his Pakistani jailers during his 10 month detention, and that this must have been known to the US and British officials who interviewed him numerous times during his detention. He said he confessed to being involved in a plot to buy an "isotope bomb" after being hung up by his wrists and beaten on his back and "things" with the lashes, and threatened to be raped by the handle.^[14]

Nabeel Hussain, who loaned the money to pay for the storage of ammonium nitrate, claimed he thought it was sand.^[15]

Counsel for Shujah Mahmood, who was only 16 at the time of the events, claimed he was not aware of the plot and was merely taken advantage of by his older brother.^[16]