Britain charges 8 in terror plot linked to US alert

8.00am

LONDON - Britain charged eight terrorism suspects on Tuesday and said one had plans which could be used in terror attacks on US financial targets in New York, New Jersey and Washington.

The charges were the first official confirmation that the British suspects, seized in raids two weeks ago, were linked to a high profile security scare in the United States this month and an unfolding terrorism probe spanning three continents.

All eight were accused of planning to commit murder and public nuisance "by the use of radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals and/or explosives to cause disruption, fear or injury," police said in a statement.

One of them, Dhiren Barot, 32, was also accused of having "reconnaissance plans" of the Prudential building in New Jersey, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup headquarters in New York, and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

United States security officials told Reuters that Dhiren Barot was the same man as Abu Eissa al-Hindi and Abu Musa al-Hindi, a key al Qaeda operative in Britain.

"Dhiren Barot is Hindi," one US security official said.

United States counter-terrorism officials have described Hindi as the most significant of the men arrested in the recent swoop by British authorities.

British police did not disclose any aliases.

The plans were "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism", said the police.

The United States imposed "orange alerts" around those buildings on August 1, saying authorities had obtained plans of them from a suspected al Qaeda computer expert held in Pakistan. The British suspects were arrested two days later.

Barot also had two notebooks containing "information on explosives, poisons, chemicals and related matters", while another suspect had "an extract of the terrorism handbook".

The other seven are Omar Abdur Rehman, 20, Zia Ul Haq, 25, Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31, Nadeem Tarmohamed, 26, Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24, Quaisir Shaffi, 25 and Junade Feroze, 28.

A ninth man was charged with possession of a weapon. Four others arrested at the time have been freed or charged with unrelated offences.

As has repeatedly been the case over the past several weeks, senior US officials had more to say about the anti-terrorism developments in London than their British counterparts.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a statement US agents had worked closely with Britain in the matter.

"We commend the United Kingdom's action today in bringing criminal charges against individuals who may have connections to potential terrorist activities in the United States."

Britain's Home Secretary David Blunkett issued only a brief statement saying he was pleased police had benefited from a law change giving them additional time to charge suspects.

Britain has arrested more than 600 terrorism suspects since the September 11 attacks but has charged fewer than 100 and convicted only 15 of terrorism offences.

The raids two weeks ago -- carried out in evident haste after the US alert, with some suspects pulled from shops and others held in a car chase -- had a more urgent tone than previous anti-terrorism swoops.

- REUTERS