London - Nine terror suspects plotted a Christmas bomb blitz in London, a court has heard.
Potential targets included the London Eye tourist attraction, the Stock Exchange and Mayor Boris Johnson, it was claimed.
The Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, two rabbis and the U.S. Embassy were also said to have been listed for possible attack.
Big Ben was allegedly visited, while the Palace of Westminster was among other key landmarks said to have received their attention. The Church of Scientology headquarters in London was also ‘observed’, it was claimed.
Targets for bombings had been agreed by the cell’s members before police swooped, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.
The suspects had also conducted live tests on explosives as part of their ‘unlawful and malicious conspiracy’.
Anti-terror police arrested the men, aged between 19 and 28, during a series of dawn raids in London, Cardiff and Stoke-on-Trent five days before Christmas.
The suspects sat in the glass-panelled dock as the court was given details of atrocities they were accused of planning for the festive season.
Some of the men were described as being of Bangladeshi origin who were either born in the UK or had arrived when they were young, attending school and working in Britain.
One is a married father of three and another’s wife is five months pregnant.
A covert surveillance operation was carried out by police and MI5 which involved following suspects and recording conversations, the court heard.
Prosecutor Piers Arnold said Trafalgar Square was visited and then Westminster, where a mobile phone was allegedly held up and pointed at Big Ben.
Surveillance teams then followed their quarries to the South Bank and the London Eye giant ferris wheel, which was being ‘observed intently’.
The men are aged between 19 and 28. Some of them were described as being of Bangladeshi origin who were either born in the UK or had arrived when they were young, attending school and working in Britain
They moved on to look at the Church of Scientology building on Queen Victoria Street near Blackfriars, before visiting a branch of McDonald’s.
After the arrests on December 20, searches at one of the addresses uncovered a handwritten note containing the contact details of six individuals, Mr Arnold said.
It had the full addresses of the Dean of St Paul’s and the Chapter House, two rabbis and their synagogues, the U.S. Embassy, London Stock Exchange and the work address of Boris Johnson.
All nine suspects face the same two charges. The first is conspiring to cause an explosion or explosions ‘of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the UK’ between October 1 and December 20.
The second charge is ‘engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism’ between the same dates.
This includes downloading information from the internet, researching materials and methods, and obtaining materials and methods. The charge said the men had discussed and carried out reconnaissance on potential targets, and agreed their targets.
Finally, it said they had experimented with explosives by ‘igniting and testing incendiary material’.
The men were charged on Sunday night and Monday morning after the Crown Prosecution Service reviewed the evidence gathered by police.
Sue Hemming, head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, announced: ‘I have reviewed the evidence provided to me by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit and I am satisfied there is sufficient for a realistic prospect of conviction, and it is in the public interest that these men should be charged with these offences.’
In court, the Crown opened the 105-minute hearing by spending half an hour outlining the allegations against the men. For legal reasons, further details cannot be reported.
The nine suspects appeared in court in three groups, two from East London going first, followed by three from Cardiff and finally four from the Midlands.
Flanked by police and court security guards, each spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.
Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury, 20, of Stanliff House, Tower Hamlets, had a wispy beard and wore a white hooded top.
He sat with his arms folded next to Shah Mohammed Lutfar Rahman, 28, of St Bernard’s Road, Newham, who had a bushy beard and a black coat.
The Cardiff suspects were Gurukanth Desai, 28, of Albert Street; Omar Sharif Latif, 26, of Neville Street; and Abdul Malik Miah, 24, of Ninian Park Road.
Bearded Miah and clean-shaven Desai are brothers, the court heard. Miah’s wife is five months pregnant, and Desai is a father of three young children.
They all looked relaxed, and Latif even winked and gave a thumbs-up as he was led from the dock.
The four suspects from the Midlands were Nazam Hussain, 25, of Grove Street, Stoke-on-Trent; Usman Khan, 19, of Persia Walk, Stoke; Mohibur Rahman, 26, of North Road, Stoke; and Abul Bosher Mohammed Shahjahan, 26, of Green Lane, Birmingham.
At the time of the police raids, Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of counter-terrorism powers, described the alleged plot as ‘significant’, while Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates said it was ‘absolutely vital’ for the public to remain vigilant.
The operation was the most high-profile anti-terror raid in Britain since April 2009.
Miah and Desai both applied to be freed on bail – the only two suspects to do so – but chief magistrate Howard Riddle remanded all nine men in custody to the Old Bailey on January 14
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