|
Terror plot: Man pleads guilty
29/01/2008 18:28 - (SA)
London - The accused mastermind of a British terror plot pleaded guilty to plotting to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Parviz Khan, 37, of Birmingham, concocted a plot to seize an unnamed British Muslim soldier in the central English city and to kill him "like a pig," prosecutor Nigel Rumfitt said at Leicester Crown Court.
"This atrocity would be filmed ... and the film released to cause panic and fear within the British armed forces and the wider public," Rumfitt said.
Khan also admitted to sending equipment to terrorists operating in the restive Pakistan-Afghan border.
Three other men pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Basiru Gassama, 30, admitted he failed to disclose details of the beheading plot to police.
Two others, Mohammed Irfan, 31, and Hamid Elasmar, 44, pleaded guilty to helping Khan supply the equipment.
The pleas were made earlier this month but could not be reported until a trial involving two other men who pleaded innocent to the charges began on Tuesday.
Amjad Mahmood, 32, pleaded not guilty to a charge of failing to disclose details of Khan's plot. Zahoor Iqbal, 30, pleaded not guilty to possessing the "Encyclopedia Jihad" - a computer disk which prosecutors say could be useful to a terrorist.
Both men have also pleaded not guilty to helping Khan to supply equipment to terrorists.
The men were arrested in a series of high-profile raids in Birmingham in January 2006.
|
News
