British-Pakistanis planned to poison beer at soccer games

US witness tells of plot to poison soccer beer

By Michael HoldenFri Mar 24, 11:34 AM ET

A U.S. informant, testifying at the trial of seven Britons accused of planning bombings in the UK, told a London court on Friday one of the suspects had discussed poisoning beer for sale at British soccer matches.

Mohammed Babar, 31, a Pakistan-born American who has admitted terrorism-related offences in New York, said Waheed Mahmood also suggested setting up mobile hamburger vans and poisoning the food before handing it over.

Babar is the key prosecution witness against the British suspects, accused of planning to use ammonium nitrate fertilizer to make bombs for use against targets such as pubs and clubs.

He has admitted in closed U.S. hearings to being an accomplice and trying to acquire the ingredients for what U.S. authorities call "the British Bomb plot," the court was told.

Babar said that Mahmood had raised the poison plots during discussions in Pakistan with himself and two of the other defendants, Anthony Garcia and Salahuddin Amin.

He said they could get jobs as barmen at soccer stadiums and use syringes to poison cans of beer.

TAKEAWAY POISON PLAN

Mahmood had also suggested distributing leaflets from a bogus takeaway restaurant.

"You would just have a phone number where they could call up and order food," Babar told the Old Bailey court Mahmood had said.

"What you could do is poison the food like that when they call for a takeout."

Babar, who said he wanted to fight U.S. troops in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks, added it was also Mahmood who suggested that Britons who came over to Pakistan to fight in Afghanistan should strike back in Britain instead.

The Briton, who the court has heard worked for a gas contractor, earmarked utility plants and telephone networks as possible targets.

"He said we should strike in the UK and do operations over there," Babar told the jury.

"He had a very detailed knowledge of how things worked. He knew exactly the thing to hit. Whether it be telephone, electricity or gas, he seemed to have an idea of what he was talking about."

Earlier, Babar had told the court he had supplied computers to help al Qaeda.

He said he had given computers to Mahmood, whom he described as a contact for fellow Britons who wanted to receive training for jihad.

Seven Britons: Anthony Garcia; Jawad Akbar; Omar Khyam; his brother Shujah Mahmood; Waheed Mahmood; Nabeel Hussain and Salahuddin Amin are accused of conspiring with Canadian Momin Khawaja to cause an explosion "likely to endanger life."

Garcia, Khyam and Hussain are also charged with possessing 600 kg (1,300 lb.) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer -- sometimes used to make bombs -- which detectives suspect was for terrorist purposes.

Khyam and Shujah Mahmood are also accused of possessing aluminum powder, also for suspected terrorist purposes.

They deny all charges and the trial continues.